Fairies of Fiore
by apriiil
Summary: The compiled collection of all the stray stories, drabbles, and ficlets that don't warrant their own post. Mostly Tumblr requests and Word of the Day prompts, and filled to the brim with obscure ships. (Mostly BixLu, CoLu, BixCo, and Raijinshuu antics.)
1. Laxatives for Laxus - LaLu

_First off, explanation time: I decided to start posting the odd drabbles/ficlets I do on tumblr to here again. Except this time, I'm not going to end up deleting them because I've accepted that pretty much no one is actually going to read them and/or like them. If there's prompts, I'll post them along with the fic. Characters will also be updated to reflect the most recent chapter, or at least the summary will be._

 _Secondly, I decided to start with some LaLu because why not? This particular one was sitting in my ask box for three months before I finally finished it, so yay for that._

 _Any who, no one reads these, so let's just get onto the story. I'll keep author's notes minimal for these ones._

* * *

 _ **Prompt** : "I'm going to need you to take these laxatives in order to deal with that emotional constipation of yours" + LaLu? - itsajoshyboy_

* * *

 **Laxatives for Laxus**

Lucy had accepted that Laxus wasn't typically one for wearing his heart on his sleeve long before they'd started dating.

She'd accepted that he wasn't going to be the type of man to take her out on extravagant, spur of the moment dates; or bring her flowers whenever he returned from a mission with the Raijinshuu; or even tell her that he loved her just because he could.

When they went to Freed and Evergreen's wedding and he didn't so much as _hug_ either of them and express how happy he actually was deep down - really, really, really deep down… Well, Lucy accepted that too, and thought, 'Well, maybe he's just not a weddings guy.' He certainly wasn't a marriage guy either, as far as Lucy knew; he'd flat out told her he didn't want to be married to her after four fucking months together. (And of course, that event had been a complete disaster and Laxus had quickly realised the mistake of his words when Lucy had run off in tears thinking that Laxus really _hated_ her.)

And when Lucy told him she was finally pregnant, after a year of trying, and when all Laxus did was pick her up and give her an _almost_ bone-crushing hug, kissing the spot where her neck met her shoulder while just fucking _standing_ there in the middle of their bathroom - Lucy once again accepted the fact that Laxus just wasn't one for expressing his emotions, even if it really did hurt her that time.

But there were only so many times Lucy could accept that Laxus was a total assface most of the time. And when Laxus didn't so much as _smile_ when their daughter finally said her first proper word one afternoon during playtime - which also did happen to be ' _Dada_ ' - Lucy knew she had reached the final straw. So after trying not to cry tears of happiness over her daughter's language development, Lucy quickly shot up from the lounge, grabbed her keys and purse, told Laxus she'd be back shortly, and walked out the door.

Twenty minutes later, Lucy was walking back into the cosy home she shared with the grumpy dragon slayer, and then tossing a small box she'd picked up from the pharmacy to him for it to land on his chest and distract him from the show on the lacrima-vision.

"Oi, what's this?" Laxus grumbled as his fingers fumbled with the edges of the box to pick it up and examine it.

Lucy merely ducked down to pick up her daughter before answering as she walked back towards the stairs, "I'm going to need you to take those laxatives for that emotional constipation of yours." Because really, the guy must've been backed up to the extreme.

Laxus opened his mouth to shout a response (maybe tell the other blonde where _she_ could put the damn laxatives), but quickly closed it again when he realised that he didn't even have a response. So he just scoffed under his breath and sunk into his comfortable lounge once again, turning his attention back to the show in front of him.

Moments later though, Laxus couldn't help but pick up the box of laxatives on his chest again to read the directions on the back of it, glancing over his shoulder every few moments just to make sure Lucy didn't catch him and be given a reason to be annoyingly smug.


	2. Stalkers - MinerJel

_**Prompt** : Coffee Date + Jellal/Minerva? - itsajoshyboy_

* * *

 **Stalkers**

Jellal couldn't help but shift uncomfortably as a he spotted a head of bright pink hair pop up outside the cafe window over his date's shoulder. He knew it was Meredy straight away, of course, and even though Jellal had hoped his _adopted_ family would just stay home and let him go off on his own for once, he really wasn't surprised that Meredy had turned up to spy on his date - no doubt with the rest of the clan as well.

"This was a waste of time, wasn't it?"

He was brought back to the conversation he'd admittedly been tuning out to when watching Meredy keep ducking behind the window to not be seen by him, and blinked twice before finally uttering, "W-What? No, I don't believe so. Why would you say that?"

"You're clearly distracted…" Minerva replied quietly. She was barely any good at talking to people, let alone actually putting herself out there (which probably explained her lack of dating experience). But it was her third date with Jellal, and she'd been under the impression that things had been going well.

Albeit slow, since they were still only on a coffee date and getting to know the basics about each other, but well nonetheless. Besides, slow was always good in Minerva's book…

"I'm…"

Well, he was distracted, especially now after catching a glimpse of Erik walking by the window with a smirk on his face (apparently the whole fam really was spying on him on his date), but… Jellal didn't really want to _admit_ that he was distracted. Because if he admitted it, then Minerva would think it was because she was boring him and really, that wasn't the case. The only way Jellal saw of being able to avoid that happening was to just tell her what was actually distracting him. At least that way she wouldn't think it was to do with her.

Besides, if he did 'lie' about it, Meredy would no doubt hang it over his head for the rest of his life. She did things like that.

So with a sigh, Jellal awkwardly admitted, "I told my family I was seeing you here today, and I guess they followed me to spy on me and see who I was on a date with, and… They've been watching us for the last five minutes from outside the cafe."

Minerva raised an eyebrow at the admission and turned on her chair to look to the wide window behind her, and sure enough, she witnessed three heads quickly duck town below the window just outside. Nosy families was something she had a bit of experience with herself, and as she turned back around with a relieved smile playing on her lips, she pointed towards a booth on the far wall of the cafe and said, "If it makes you feel any better, my brothers came to spy on me too."

Jellal didn't get a chance to see the faces of the two sitting in the booth Minerva pointed to before they were picking up their plastic menus and hiding themselves behind them.


	3. Adorable - Fraxus

_**Prompt** : #20 for Fraxus ('You're too damn cute') - arandomgirliam on tumblr. _

* * *

**Adorable**

The birth of the little Seith mage (or Celestial Spirit mage, if you talked to the kid's mother) had been a wonderful event for pretty much everyone in Fairy Tail. For Laxus, it had been an amazing event, just because it gave Bickslow less time to actually annoy him, what, with being a parent to a newborn and all.

It wasn't long before the two new parents did have to return to their old lives as guild mages… Or more accurately, they both just really needed a day off from the tiny human they'd created, and taking a simple one-day job together in the next town had been way too appealing. Of course, that had just meant they'd be needing a babysitter for the day, and much to Laxus' disgust, Freed had volunteered _them_ for the task. _Damn that demon…_

Once Freed had returned to their little cottage with the screaming child, Laxus had instantly retreated to the opposite side of the house and made use of his SoundPod. As far as Laxus was concerned, Freed was the one that had volunteered them, so Freed could be the one to look after the damn poop machine.

And, that had been exactly what had happened for the first few hours. Freed had kept the baby occupied, and Laxus had… sulked.

But then Freed had had to run an errand of the highest importance, _apparently_ , and then Laxus was left sitting in his bedroom and staring at the drooling, fidgeting, weird-noise making creature that somehow looked exactly like her father. It was the damn eyes.

Thankfully, it had been nap time again for the kid, so Laxus' shift had been easy. All he'd had to do was really check every so often to make sure she hadn't rolled off onto the floor from where her makeshift bed had been made on the middle of his own. Of course though, things had gotten worse after that, because after nap time came changing time, and by _Mavis_ had Laxus been cursing his heightened Dragon Slayer senses right then.

When Freed returned home just a few hours later, he half expected the house to be in disarray - leaving his husband with a four-month-old baby had just seemed like the worst idea ever. But when he reached the bedroom at the back of the house, he was completely shocked. But in a good way.

Because Laxus was _playing_ with the baby - or really, he was tickling her, but the kid was giggling and Laxus was smiling and _holy fucking shit what is going on here?_ And maybe the best part for Freed was that even _with_ Laxus' heightened senses, he was too preoccupied with the baby in front of him that he didn't even notice him standing in the doorway.

"You're just too damn cute, you know that?" Even if he was still grumbling a little, it was still pretty damn genuine, and Freed was completely lost for words as he watched Laxus continue to tickle and snuggle his god-daughter. "It's a good thing Blondie's your mother, because Bix sure as hell ain't cute."

Once Freed did manage to find his voice though, just making his presence known with a gentle cough, Laxus merely glanced in his direction before sitting up suddenly and composing himself. His cheeks were red (just like his hands), and Freed now couldn't help but smirk as he watched his husband pick up the baby and hold her out to him.

"Oh, finally. You're back," he grumbled. "Kid's hungry."

Freed could only snicker quietly as he took the child in his arms and turned to watch Laxus disappear down the hall to the rest of their house. How the kid managed to wear Laxus down so quickly, Freed had no idea, but he was most definitely going to pester Laxus about it later. He could let his grumpy husband pretend he hadn't been caught red-handed snuggling a baby and _enjoying_ it for a little while.

But only for a little while.


	4. Smoke and Rain - BixLu

_I can't remember if I posted this one in the BixLu collection or not... I apologise if I did and this is a double post. (And just a quick reminder, I am still focusing on one-shots at the moment to get my WIP list down, so the BixLu collection is being updated the most frequently of all my stories right now.)_

 _ **Prompt** : BixLu + '8) Raindrops, a singed teddybear, a photograph so worn it feels like fabric'? - itsajoshyboy_

* * *

 **Smoke and Rain**

The faint smell of smoke still lingered in the air even weeks after the event. Not even the constant sprinkling of rain that had been falling all through the last week could mask it.

A cloud as black as the charred remains of his home beneath his feet loomed above Bickslow that morning, but he ignored it like he'd ignored the threat of the hurricane bracing the coast later that day.

It had been such a nice home - the perfect size for their little family. He remembered how excited they'd been when they'd finally moved in years earlier. They hadn't moved any of their furniture from their old place at the time, so for their first night in the house, they'd laid in front of the fireplace on their makeshift bed and talked about anything and everything all night long.

Now though, not even the fireplace had survived the fire that had burnt down his home and destroyed everything he held most dear in that world. All that remained was a few stones and the broken mantel.

He looked to the stairs behind him - or at least to what remained of them. He remembered all the times he'd ended up tripping on the loose tread and made a mental note to repair (but never did); all the times he'd chased Lucy up them before they went to bed; and to how many times he'd been kneeling down at the bottom of them when his son was sitting on the second step, and helped him tie his shoelaces.

When he made his way towards the back of house, where the kitchen had once been, and something soft beneath his foot caught his attention. It was a teddy bear - one that had been once belonged to Lucy when she'd been a child, and had passed down to their son on his first night home. Its fur was singed and only patches of the soft yellow fur it had once been were visible, but as he crouched down, slowly falling to rest upon a pile of rubble and the remnant of a wall, Bickslow clutched the toy to his chest.

After a while, he couldn't tell if the wetness on his cheeks were from his tears or the rain that continued to fall, but he didn't care much either way.

Later though, after his team would come to find him sitting in the rubble that had once been his home and taken him to one of their own, Bickslow would spend yet another sleepless night sitting up in the bed that wasn't his own and staring at the old photo of his now lost family that had been sitting in his wallet; one that was so old and worn that it felt almost like fabric. But at that point, all Bickslow had left in that world of those he held most dear was that same photo, his memories, and now, the singed teddy bear.


	5. Bickslow the Friendly Ghost - BixLu

_This one was a request I got the other night, and I probably would've waited until I had the rest of the fics in my doc manager all posted... But I just really loved writing this so I'm posting it here now._

 _It does remind me of another AU I'm working on, where Bickslow is a genie (yes, yes, yes), so I won't be expanding on this one, as much I do love it. I'll just have to get that other story finished..._

 _Also, I think I'm going to keep anything under 1k words in this collection (bixlu or not). So as much as I love this, it's too short to go into the bixlu collection._

 _ **Prompt** : 'ghost' for bixlu - gsut _

* * *

**Bickslow the Friendly Ghost**

"I swear to fucking Mavis, if you don't get the _hell_ out of my goddamn toaster right this second, I'm going to call the _Strauss Siblings_ to get you exterminated!"

Bickslow instantly shot out of the small toaster at the threat he knew to be far too serious, and materialised before the pyjama-wearing blonde with his hands held up in surrender as the toaster fell back down on the bench with a clatter and clang. "Hey, baby, no exterminating, okay? I'm out of the toaster. We cool."

Lucy huffed as she backed away from where she kept the business card of the local ghost exterminators on her cork board, and returned to the counter to grab the loaf of bread and finally put some slices into the toaster. "How many times have I told you to stay out of the appliances?" she muttered.

"I don't know, probably close to a thousand times now," the spirit answered. "I don't really pay attention."

"Well, obviously!"

Bickslow could only shrug as he came to sit himself on the bench, right over the cutting board and directly in front of his human roommate. "But I'm a ghost, babe. What else am I going to do if I can't play with the appliances?" he asked, pouting in all his transparent glory. Really, if he couldn't play with the appliances, he'd get bored. Lucy had already banned him from the lights and the bathroom ( _pffft_ , not that that had ever stopped him from peeking his head through a wall and scaring the living shit out of her in the middle of a shower), but she couldn't ban him from the _appliances_. They were his favourite things to play in!

"I don't know, maybe go haunt someone else's house and play in _their_ toasters?" Lucy suggested bitterly.

"Nope. No can do."

"Right, because you're chained to the house… How could I forget…" Honestly, when Lucy had moved to Magnolia Hollow, she'd thought everyone had been kidding when they said that almost all of the buildings were inhabited by ghosts. But then Bickslow the _friendly fucking ghost_ had stuck his damn head through the ceiling on her first morning in the new house and stuck his tongue out at her and said, _'Welcome to the house, baby!'_ She'd been so damn scared she'd shot out of bed and face-planted into a damn wall, and then Bickslow had only looking at her like _she_ was the weird one.

She'd lost count of how many times she'd considered - and threatened - to get Bickslow _exterminated_ in the three short months she'd been living there. The guy - er, ghost - drove her up the freakin' wall. Of all the houses she'd had to move into, it just _had_ to be the one with the most annoying (although ridiculously friendly) ghost in the entire town. Lucy seemed to think _she_ was the cursed one, forget the house.

"You're stuck with me until you die, baby," Bickslow pointed out gleefully.

Lucy only glared up at him through her lashes as she dropped her now cooked toast onto the cutting board - which, if Bickslow had happened to have a _physical_ form, would've been right on his lap. "Just be glad you're already dead," she muttered under her breath. Because if he hadn't been… Well, he'd be in for a world of pain.


	6. A Promise to Keep - BixLu

_This one... Okay, this one was actually an idea I had a little while ago, but then I got a prompt that I realised would work way too well for it. So, the idea got paired with the prompt, and I kinda love it. Sort of._

 _Disclaimer though: I'm aware that this won't be that realistic. I can guarantee that I did no research for this fic, just because it was a request and I honestly couldn't be bothered doing research on the airforce/military etc. If it had been a longer fic, then yeah, sure._

 _Anyway, I missed writing angst for these two. Have some angst._

 _ **Prompt** : 'promise' for bixlu - cosymotto/CoSmO333_

* * *

 **A Promise to Keep**

"Just come back to me, okay?" Lucy whispered to her husband as the taxi driver outside impatiently pressed on the horn. "You need to come back to me - to _us_."

Bickslow smiled warmly down at her, his forehead coming to rest against Lucy's and his hand drifting down to cover her own on the just barely concealed bump. "It just three months. I'll be back home before you know it," he said.

"You promise?"

"I promise," Bickslow whispered. And softly, he pressed his lips to his wife's one last time for the next few months, and then turned to pick up his luggage and finally leave. He only hoped his deployment would go by quickly for a change.

* * *

After two months, Lucy opened the door to find her husband's superior officers waiting for her, hats under their arms and with grave looks on their faces. And she'd known, right from the moment she'd seen their uniforms and all the ribbons that adorned them, that her worst nightmare had happened: that his plane had gone down and with him in it.

They'd told her that they didn't really know what had happened; contact had suddenly been lost with him, and then reports of the wreckage of his _Lightning II_ washing up on the shoreline of Pergrande Kingdom had started coming in. Lucy had had no choice but to accept the worst. She'd known the risks when she'd married him.

She'd just always hoped for the best.

* * *

The day of her husband's funeral service had been beautiful, considering all things - the sun had been shining, birds chirping, and there hadn't been a single gloomy cloud in the sky. And Lucy had hated it, almost as much as she'd hated how she'd had to bury her husband without his actual body - they'd never found it, though. Everyone had just assumed he'd been lost at the bottom of The Cloud Sea, where they expected his plane to have gone down.

She'd been to her fair share of air force funerals, but that one… That one had been the most difficult for her, mostly because she was literally a walking reminder of the fact that she was going to have to raise his daughter by herself - and she knew how much Bickslow would've loved to hear that they were having a little girl.

* * *

The doorbell rang and Lucy could only groan up to the ceiling as she dropped the load of washing she'd been carrying on one hip to turn and rush down the stairs, still carrying the crying three-week-old infant in her other arm, and greet whoever it was at the door.

She wasn't that surprised to see the neatly-pressed-uniform-wearing officers standing outside and waiting patiently for her - they'd come to visit her every week or so just to help out with menial tasks and remind her of the support she'd always have available. But Lucy didn't even get a chance to say good afternoon to them before they each stepped aside and left a clear view of the path down her front lawn, and to the all too familiar man slowly making his way towards the front steps with the help of the cane in his right hand.

She was sure her heart stopped beating when he lifted his head to look up at her, and when his lips curled up into that same grin that had made her fall in love with him in the first place all those years earlier, Lucy couldn't stop the tears from beginning to fall down her cheeks. And quickly, she handed her crying daughter over to one of the officers just so she could run out and down the stairs, and feel her husband's arms around her once again.

"I promised you I'd be back, didn't I?"


	7. Ducklings - BixUvia

_**Prompt** : Bixuvia, Amuse Me - Dragonshost_

* * *

 **Ducklings**

Juvia wasn't used to seeing Bickslow curled up in bed and doing his best impression of a mountain of pillows and blankets, even if he'd been that way for almost the last month. Considering the guy was usually bouncing off the freakin' walls or hanging from some rafter and just constantly joking around, Juvia couldn't help but be concerned when he was quiet or still. It just wasn't him, as far as she was concerned.

Yet for the last month, that was how he'd been. He'd rolled himself up in bed sheets and closed himself off from the rest of the world, all because he suddenly believed that the only way to keep his remaining babies safe was to hug their little wooden bodies tightly to him. The war with Zeref and Alvarez had had its casualties, and unfortunately for Bickslow, one of the babies had been included in that. He hadn't even know his souls could be destroyed until Pappa had been, and naturally, Bickslow missed the lil' guy. Juvia had never known much about the souls, either, so she hadn't been able to help but ask why Bickslow had been the way he was. He'd told her that it was like losing a best friend, one he'd known for almost his entire life.

Still, as much as Juvia did understand that he was mourning his lost soul, and that part of him really did believe that keeping himself and the other four babies away from everything was the best way to keep them all safe, she really didn't like seeing Bickslow that way. And still, even though there was a part of her that was telling her to just leave Bickslow to do what he thought was best, she wanted to help.

It was Bickslow who had told her that laughter was the best medicine in the whole wide world, after all, and Juvia was going to take it upon herself to make the guy laugh.

So walking into Bickslow's bedroom that afternoon, she simply quietly stepped over to the bed where the Seith mage was curled up under the duvet and sat down on the edge. The human-shaped lump under the blanket shifted, and then she heard the mumbled question: "Is that you, Juvs?"

Juvia nodded (not to anyone in particular), and peeked inside the large cardboard box she held on her lap. "Yes," she answered softly before asking her own question. "Is Bickslow going to emerge from his bed today?"

"No." There were bad people outside his bed. There was no way in hell he was leaving. Besides, it was warm in there.

"I see…" Juvia whispered. It was the response she'd expected, but also the one she'd wanted. And so with that, Juvia was moving to kneel on the ground, just beside the bed, and then reaching into the cardboard box now next to her to carefully lift out what was contained within it. Then slowly, she gripped the edge of the blanket that Bickslow hadn't completely wrapped himself in, and placed the fluffy, yellow animal she'd been holding down on the bed.

Bickslow became aware of the quiet squeaking when he had something odd nudge his cheek, and he couldn't help but flinch when something soft brushed against his face and the squeaking noise only grew louder. "What the–" He sat upright in an instant and pushed the covered back as quickly as he could. The babies he'd been holding _hostage_ flew straight out the door, and Bickslow was left staring down at the chirping, squeaking, and whistling ducklings that were apparently exploring his bed.

He couldn't keep the grin off his face as he leant forward on his elbows and scooped up one of the fluffy little creatures into his hands. "Ducklings?!"

"Juvia saw them on her way home and thought they were cute," Juvia explained as she rose to sit on the bed once again. "Juvia also thought they would cheer Bickslow up…"

And Bickslow didn't really need to tell Juvia if the ducklings had worked or not, because before long, he was left lying in the middle of his bed with a brace of ducklings sitting and climbing all over him. Juvia had known that he had a soft-spot for fluffy animals, and even if the ducklings would seriously never be able to be the equivalent of any of Bickslow's lost souls, she knew that he loved them.

All Juvia really cared about, though, was that she'd managed to find a way to get Bickslow out of bed.


	8. A Smile - CoLu

_**Prompt** : "Have I entered an alternate universe or did you really just crack a smile for me?" - I can't remember who requested this. I think it might've been Empress of Everything... _

* * *

**A Smile**

Lucy stared at the maroon haired man before her with nothing but disbelief. She couldn't have just seen what she thought she had. That would just be ludicrous.

Cobra did not smile. Smirk, occasionally, yes. But smile? Never. Lucy had only heard him laugh once, and that was because he had been laughing _at_ her. Though, she did manage to get a video of the Dragon Slayer rolling on the floor and laughing hysterically. That video had just been _misplaced_ , apparently. Oh well.

But right then, Lucy was sure she had seen him smile. With her own lips curling up into a near devilish smirk, she asked, "Have I entered an alternate universe or did you really just crack a smile for me?"

Cobra scoffed. "Don't be stupid, Bright Eyes."

The suspicious glance to the side only had Lucy squealing and reaching out to squeeze his cheek. "Oh, you _so_ did," she laughed. Cobra could only roll his eyes and continue to let the blonde dote over him.

There was no stopping her once she started giggling and squeezing cheeks.


	9. Dance Off - BixLu

_**Prompt** : Dance Off + BixLu? - itsajoshyboy_

* * *

 **Dancing Queen**

Bickslow was struggling to stay on his feet after his thirty-second hour of being awake. It had been a while since he'd been that sleep deprived, but with Lucy entering her _fifteenth_ hour of labour, he was absolutely exhausted.

When they'd (well, _Lucy_ , mostly) been preparing for that special day - the one that was supposed to have happened nearly two weeks earlier - they'd expected it to be a somewhat long process, being that it was their first child, but they'd never expected it to go on for _that_ long. At that point, Bickslow couldn't tell if he was more excited about Lucy almost being ready to deliver their daughter and being able to actually meet her, or about getting to sleep once said daughter had been born.

Honestly, he expected it was the latter.

But still, in the fifteenth hour of it all, part of Bickslow's tiredness most definitely had to do with just how many laps of the maternity ward he'd done. Lucy wanted to move around, and of course, wanting to be a supportive husband (for once), he'd walked with her on every single lap - well, until a nurse had given him a wheelchair and then he'd ended up _wheeling_ himself around behind Lucy.

Now though, after having said that he was incapable of doing one more lap of the ward with Lucy (his chair had been taking away, unfortunately), Lucy was moving onto dancing - well, it was more like swaying, considering she was like nine and a half months pregnant and that was pretty much the extent of what she could do at that point, but it was dancing nonetheless.

"Aren't you going to dance with me Bixy?" Lucy pouted as she continued to sway and twirl completely out of time with the music the midwife had started playing for her.

"In a minute, babe," he mumbled. As soon as he'd gotten back to Lucy's room after the last lap, he'd only collapsed into the vinyl chair and now he didn't even have enough energy to get up.

Lucy wasn't going to take that though. Nope. Technically, it was his fault she was there right then anyway (well, sort of), so the least he could do was dance with her. So she untangled herself from the IV and padded over to where her husband was slouched in the chair, and grabbed his arms to pull him up. "Come on. Dance time."

Bickslow only groaned and went along with it. Unfortunately, he only managed to sway and twirl around with his too-happy wife for a minute before his legs were buckling under him and he collapsed face down onto the tiled floor, and then began snoring.


	10. Dubious Parenting - BixLu

_**Prompt** : "Why the hell are you bleeding?!" for Bixlu - Empress of Everything_

* * *

 **Dubious Parenting**

Lucy walked into the guild in high spirits after her morning with Levy. As much as she loved her boys, it was nice to get out of the house for a few hours (or days) and get some much needed girl time.

So the first thing she did upon walking into the guild was seek out her husband and their seven year-old son. She saw the familiar heads of blue hair sitting at a table with Natsu, Juvia, and their own five year-old son, and Lucy's smile only got brighter as she headed towards them all.

"Hey, kiddo," she beamed as she threw her arms around her son's shoulders from behind and went to kiss his cheek. She only stopped when she noticed the distinct metallic taste of blood on her lips, and she quickly straightened up to look down at August's face. Though he was grinning ear-to-ear, unlike his father who was only sneakily trying to slink away from his wife, there was a large gash on the side of his forehead, right above one almond-shaped eye with the curl at the end, and the side of his face was completely covered in the mostly dried crimson liquid. "Why the hell are you bleeding!?"

"Dad let me try some tricks on the babies!" August answered, and just like that, Lucy's main focus wasn't about making sure her baby boy was okay. No, he'd honestly been through worse with Bickslow as his father (the amount of times he'd been dropped as a baby was something that Laxus still teased the Seith mage about, even though he'd dropped his daughter just as many times when she'd been young). Lucy's main focus then was finding her husband.

She quickly scanned the guild once she noticed the Seith mage had disappeared from where he'd been sitting just next to August, and then found him creeping towards the doors. "Bickslow, I swear to god, if you don't turn around right now, I am going to divorce your ass so quic–"

Lucy only cut herself off when Bickslow suddenly broke into a run right after letting out an uncharacteristic yelp, then quickly fell backwards and landed on the floor with a groan and a loud thud, and with a broken nose from where the heavy guild door had been opened right in his face, revealing a surprised and happy Laxus standing just outside.

Lucy loved the guy, but he kinda deserved that, and so she only sat down next to her son and returned to being the worried mother she was always going to be. Her husband would be fine.


	11. Kiss the Cook - MiraFreed

**Prompt** : _'Apron' and/or 'Morning' for MiraFreed - furidojasutin_

* * *

 **Kiss the Cook**

Mira was woken up to the smell of freshly brewed tea and strawberries coming from the kitchen at the end of the hallway. Contrary to popular belief, she wasn't a morning person in the slightest - her siblings knew that all too well - but when she got to wake up to someone else making _her_ breakfast for a change, mornings became just that little bit more bearable.

Especially when that someone was a mage who happened to be better in the kitchen than she was herself and knew just how to make her day start wonderfully.

Swinging her feet out of bed and placing them on the soft rug, she yawned and stretched her arms above her head before slowly rising to her feet. When she entered the kitchen, Mira couldn't help but sigh dreamily at the apron-wearing Runes mage before her. The bright red apron was her absolute favourite article of clothing to see Freed in; it was even better when it was the _only_ thing he was wearing, but they both knew nothing productive got done in the day when that was the case.

Noticing Mira's presence just a moment later, Freed smiled at the sleep-ridden Takeover mage as he turned to plate up the strawberry pancakes he'd just finished preparing. "Good morning, my love," he said softly, reaching for the sugar just to sprinkle over the top of the sliced strawberries. "Sleep well?"

"I did indeed," Mira whispered, and then just because the apron said so, she was rising up to stand on her tip-toes to plant a soft kiss to the cook's lips.


	12. Reasoning - GrayLu

_**Prompt** : Reasoning + GrayLu - sassyhazelowl_

* * *

 **Reasoning**

When it came to Lucy, Gray had come to learn that it was best she just get her way. Most of the time it worked out for the best, because she was really one of the only ones on Team Natsu who had the capability to think logically and use her actual brain (unlike Natsu, and also himself included some of the time). But for the rest of the time, Lucy getting her way with things just made Gray's like much more pleasant. She could be extremely cold when she wanted to be.

That much he'd realised rather quickly. _(But did he love it? Hell fucking yes, he did.)_

Regardless, there were times when Gray was convinced that there wasn't a single logical or reasoning bone in Lucy's body. Like when she seemed to think that she could handle standing outside in the worst snowstorm that Magnolia had seen in two decades just because her boyfriend happened to be an Ice Make mage and she could supposedly handle the cold now (and that little adventure had only ended up with a visit to the infirmary where lots of warm tea and blankets had been awaiting her).

But of course, Gray was also very much convinced that the odd moment where Lucy seemed to forget how to use her brain correctly was all because Natsu was her best friend. His stupidity had worn off on her - on all of them, really.

And still, odd stupid decisions or not, Gray still loved her. Especially when she thought she could handle being turned into a human popsicle.


	13. Shotgun - MidKino

_**Prompt** : "Don't panic, but I think we might have accidentally gotten married..." for MidKino - Empress of Everything_

* * *

 **Shotgun**

Yukino stared blankly at the man in front of her before her brain kicked back into gear. "Did you… Did you just say _married?!_ "

Midnight nodded but took a step back. "I told you not to panic!" he shouted back.

"How am I _not_ supposed to panic? We… We can't be married!" She stopped her pacing and threw herself into the armchair in the corner of the hotel room and dropped her face into her hands. "How did this even happen?" Yukino wailed.

"Well… I'm going to assume it had something to do with all that fire whisky Natsu and Sting had you consume, and then I seem to recall Cobra managing to convince Sting to marry us…" the black-and-white haired mage explained drily. He hadn't had nearly as much to drink as Yukino had, but his head was hurting just as much. Though, whether that was from his hangover or the marriage certificate he'd woken up to beside him with Fairy Tail's stamp on it and their signatures in each corner, he couldn't tell.

"This is horrible," Yukino groaned into her hands. The mage could only tell herself that this is what she got for partying with Fairy Tail. Never again was she going to accept one of Lucy's invitations again.

She paled when a rather disturbing thought crossed her mind, and then looked up to face the Reflector mage who sat on the end of the bed. "My sister is going to kill us," she mumbled.

And if even possible, Midnight's face became even paler and his eyes went wide when he thought of his girlfriend's - er, wife's - sister. Sorano really was going to kill them. Or, really, she was probably just going to kill _him_. "How fast do you think we can get a divorce?"


	14. The Good Tutor - NaLe

_**Prompt** : 'I'm your tutor, and I don't care how much you struggle you will learn this shit and pass because I've never had any others fail or do help me' au + Natsu/Levy?_

* * *

 **The Good Tutor**

Natsu groaned in defeat and dropped his head to the library table with a loud _thud_. "I just don't get it," he complained. "Why is this so hard?"

Levy rolled her eyes and had to take a deep breath to calm herself. "Natsu, it's really not that hard," she told him. "Now come on, try it again. You have the formula right there. All you have to do is follow the steps one at a time and remember your basic rules."

"I know…"

With a sigh, Natsu lifted his head and his pencil from the table and turned to a new page in his notebook to begin working on the equation again. Levy wasn't quite sure how she'd been roped into tutoring Natsu, but after having him fail to come to the correct answer for a high school level algebra equation, she was wondering why she was sticking with it. The man was an environmental science major, yet despite the high school grades that had rivalled her own, he seemed to be having a lot of trouble with his linear algebra unit - so much that it was actually his third time repeating it, and failing that time around would lead to him being excluded from his course.

Natsu presented his book to Levy sitting opposite him once he'd finished working on the equation, and he waited with a dull look in his eyes for her to tell him that he was wrong once again. Instead, Levy only nodded as she looked over all of his working out, checked it all against her own working out that she'd done the night before in preparation for their session that morning, and smiled before handing the notebook back to him. "That looks good!" she said. "Sometimes it's worth taking your time with things, isn't it?"

"I suppose…" Natsu grumbled. He didn't like taking his time with anything. He liked getting on with things. And the compulsory maths unit was just another thing he wanted to just hurry up and get on with.

"Now how about the next one." Levy pointed to another question in Natsu's textbook. "It's almost the same as the last ones. Let's see if you can get it first go."

And so off Natsu went, scribbling down the equation on the paper, breaking it down and constantly going back and forth between the paper and his calculator until he was writing down the final answer.

"Close," Levy sighed once he presented his work to her again. He'd almost gotten it the first try, but he'd skipped a crucial step in his working out, probably just from rushing and not reading it carefully enough.

Natsu could only groan and drop his head to the desk again. "I give up. It's too hard! None of it makes any sense," he whined. He was probably just going to flunk out and then go sell fireworks on the side of the road or something. That sounded good - though Gray would probably disagree…

That was the final straw for Levy, though. She'd known Natsu since high school; knew what he was capable of. And he was sure as hell capable of passing his goddamn linear algebra unit, even if it killed him.

She got up so quickly that her chair tipped back onto the carpeted floor, and slammed her hands down onto the library table so hard that it drew the attention of people outside their reserved study room. "I'm your tutor, and I don't care how much you struggle. You will learn this shit because I've never had any others fail or so help me."

Natsu swallowed the lump in his throat and stared up at the small woman in terror. "Yes, ma'am," he squeaked.

"Good." Levy cleared her throat before picking up her chair to sit back down on it. "Now try it again, and _slowly_ this time. Remember to read the question properly."


	15. Things You Said When I Was Crying-GrayZa

_**Prompt** : 'Things you said when I was crying' for Grayza (Erza crying) - nutellaloveswasabi_

* * *

 **Things You Said When I Was Crying**

Gray couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Erza cry, not unless he counted the time the Titania had mourned the greatest strawberry cake she'd ever had the pleasure of devouring.

But when he saw the dried tear marks on her cheeks, and saw how much pain and sorrow she held in her eyes when she begged for him to stop - the man beneath him, the one he'd once called a brother was long gone - Gray knew. He knew that it counted that time.

And it was his fault.

She was crying because of him. She was hurting because of him - because of what he'd done.

And it was occurring to him, as he finally backed away and looked down to his hands, beaten and bloody and sore, that he had no idea what he was supposed to say to her. He knew, though, that he couldn't fix it. Never in a million years would he be able to fix what he'd done, and he would take the guilt that was quickly forming in the pit of his stomach to his own grave.

Nonetheless, there only two words Gray could think of in that long and painful moment. And as he sank down to the ground and buried his face his hands, not caring about whose blood they were covered in, he whispered for what would be the first of many times where the Titania's cries echoed in his ears, "I'm sorry."

But not even an apology seemed to suffice in his mind.


	16. Cleaning Day - Gratsu

_I could so easily write a follow-up story to this... One featuring my favourite dorks, of course... Alas I will not for the time being... Not unless anyone wants it..._

 _Anyway. This one was the last of the prompts sitting in my inbox for the last nearly 4 months, so I'm glad to be getting it finished - although now I have a whole bunch of Bickslow/Cobra/Lucy/Laxus + their various shipping combinations (including all four of them together) to write for the 100 Kink challenge on tumblr (please feel free to request a prompt + pairing for it!)._

 _ **Prompt** : An apple, a sweater, a tube of lipstick that is not what it seems'? for Gratsu - itsajoshyboy_

* * *

 **Cleaning Day**

"Oi, Luce! What happened to your sweater?"

Lucy's first reaction was to just roll her eyes at Natsu's random question - because honestly, what kind of question was that? She wasn't even in the damn room! But then she remembered what had been sitting at the top of her clean laundry pile, ready to be ironed and put away: the _sweater_ (not that Lucy was sure how such little material could be called such a thing) that her _oh so_ _wonderful_ boyfriend had bought from some shop Lucy really didn't want to know the name of when on his last mission with his team.

And realising just what it was that Natsu was no doubt probably holding up in front of him, Lucy quickly pulled her hands out of the sink full of soapy dishes and rushed out to go yank the halter-top sweater from the Dragon Slayer's hands. "Give me that back!" Lucy squawked as she came to a stop on her hardwood floors right in front of him.

Natsu collapsed back down on Lucy's bad with a huff once she'd taken her sweater back from him. "Jeez, it's just a jumper…" he muttered. "No need to get like that over some old, ratty piece of fabric…" Really, he didn't get it. He went through her laundry all the time! And it wasn't like her sweater had actually been wearable anyway. It was completely backless! And it didn't even have sleeves!

Lucy's cheeks quickly became a dark shade of crimson as she bundled up the sweater that was, in fact, very much wearable. "That's not… It's not–"

"It's a virgin killer sweater, Flame-Brain," Gray chuckled from behind the blonde as he returned from the bathroom.

"A virgin killer? How does a sweater kill virgins?" Natsu wondered.

Gray was grinning at his partner now next to him on the bed as he took a bite of the crisp, green apple he'd snagged from Lucy's kitchen. Lucy's face was still beet red as she just gaped at the two mages without knowing just what it was she was supposed to say. But oh, how Gray loved how dense Natsu could be sometimes… It was annoying most of the time, but recently, Gray had found it adorable - although perhaps that was due to the fact that Gray had had the chance to let Natsu experience some new exciting things for once… "Because it's sexy as hell, that's why," the Ice Make mage chuckled again. "Why do you think Bix bought it for her?" Because Lucy certainly wouldn't have bought it for herself… Gray knew that.

"Wait, Bickslow gave it to you?" Natsu's confusion only grew as he turned back to his best friend, who was no wishing she could jump out the window that was just behind him. "And he was a virgin too?!"

"No!" Lucy quickly squeaked. _No, no, no… Definitely not…_

Gray sighed as he gently patted Natsu's shoulder. "You have much to learn, my friend." And oh, was Gray going to teach him. Most definitely.

Shaking his head, Natsu only sighed to himself and pulled his legs up to cross them under himself on the edge of Lucy's bed. Lucy herself took the cue to retreat back into her kitchen - along with the incriminating piece of clothing that she was going to have to remember to store in a locked drawer from then on - to finish doing the dishes. It was cleaning day, however, so while Lucy went about making her small apartment spotless and shiny, Natsu had been confined to the bed along with Gray, unless they needed to visit the bathroom, just so he didn't get out of her way. Even Happy had gotten bored and left.

After a moment of just listening to Gray crunch on his apple, Natsu began to just looking around the still messy apartment of his friend - honestly, he didn't think he'd ever seen it so messy in his entire life.

He spied a tube of bright red lipstick on the nightstand just next to him, and his brow furrowed as he reached for it slowly, only shouting out to the female mage in curiosity again, "Since when do you wear lipstick Luce?"

And once again, Lucy could only screech before rushing out of the kitchen yet again, because it was most definitely _not_ a tube of lipstick she'd left next to her bed from the previous night.


	17. Dawn - BixLu

_So, it's 5am. I gave up on sleep somewhere around 4am. And this... This is what came from it. There's a (kind of) funny story about this one. The poem (tanka, I believe) was an assignment I was given at the start of the semester. I kind of half-assed it because I cannot stand poetry (just not my thing), and the tanka below is what came from it. Funnily enough, when I was writing it, I was thinking of BixLu. And, once I'd finished it and submitted it (yes, that is the final copy of it, and no, I didn't bother editing it any further because again, I fucking hate poems), and read through the feedback from my peers, I realised... That I really wanted to writer a drabble/ficlet based on it._

 _Anyway, I finally got around to it, and this is what came from it. Unedited, un-proofed, random 5am rambling while I try not to cough up an actual lung - my annual winter chest cold has come to take me._

* * *

 **Dawn**

* * *

 _Sun slowly rising_

 _Dawn is creeping closer still_

 _Birds outside waken_

 _Yet inside remains peaceful_

 _With no one wishing to move_

* * *

Lucy woke to the cheerful sound of chirping of birds outside her window, and the early morning rays just peeking through the floating curtains from the gentle morning breeze. A smile tugged at her lips before her eyes were even completely open, and she sighed happily to herself knowing just what her day would entail.

She couldn't stop herself from lifting up her hand once she noticed the new, yet comfortable, weight on it, and her smile grew wider as she admired the way the diamonds on the rose-gold band caught the sunlight and sparkled incandescently. That was when Lucy finally looked to the sleeping form beside her, and she was sliding over in the mess of sheets and then tucking herself under his arm to bury her face against his neck.

Bickslow chuckled tiredly, but he wound his arm around his wife's shoulders just that little bit tighter and ducked his head to press a gentle kiss to the top of her own. "Mm, good morning, _Mrs. Heartfilia_."

Lucy giggled. She'd been married for less than twelve hours, but the first time she'd heard it, she'd known she was going to love being able to tick that ' _Mrs'_ box on any other forms she had to fill out in the future. "You know, I think I could get used to being called that now…"

"I'm sure you could," Bickslow murmured. He waited a few moments, in which he only enjoyed the sound of the Lucy softly exhaling and the feel of her breath on his neck, and the slightly-more annoying sound of the birds outside, before he decided to ask, "What time do we need to be at the airport again?"

"About nine…" Lucy mumbled. Their flight to the first of their honeymoon destinations wasn't until ten-thirty, but they still had to be there early. Thankfully, they'd finished packing the most of their belongings a few days prior to the wedding, so everything but their carry-on was packed and ready to go.

They still had a little bit of time before they needed to get up though – not much, but still. Her daughter would be up soon, and Erik would be arriving shortly to be lectured again about all the emergency contacts that were going to be stuck on the fridge (like he hadn't actually been a dad for the last seven years at all), and all about Violet's school drop-off and pick-up schedules and after-school programs, and how Bickslow's dogs needed to walked every _second_ day, not _every_ day, and that he had to make sure they didn't steal each other's food…

Once the day _really_ started, everyone was going to be in a rush, and… Lucy wasn't ready for that just yet. She just wanted to enjoy the peace and comfort that came from cuddling with her husband right then. They'd have peace on their honeymoon, sure, but it wouldn't be the same. They were at _home_ then, and that was definitely something Lucy was going to miss for the next month.

"So we don't have to get up yet, right?" Bickslow asked quietly.

"Not yet…" Lucy sighed.

"Good." He'd had no intentions of moving when he'd felt Lucy stirring beside him before, and he didn't have them right then, either. For now, he was going to stay in bed where it was warm and still smelled like home.

* * *

 _Fun fact: This is actually part of a longer one-shot I started working on a while ago, and plan on (hopefully) finishing soon...  
_ _Yes, Bickslow has 3 dogs. And yes, Lucy does have a kid with Cobra and her name is Violet. It'll make sense one day._

 _Also, quick note regarding Lucy's married name: No, Lucy did not hyphenate her name. No, she did not take Bickslow's. No, Bickslow did not take hers. Lucy kept her own, thus, she became 'Mrs. Heartfilia'. That's it._


	18. The Death of a Beloved - BixLu

_**Prompt** : "It's just that… Well, my favorite character just died." for BixLu_

* * *

 **The Death of a Beloved**

Bickslow walked into his apartment to find his live-in, five-months pregnant girlfriend tucked up in the corner of the lounge and bawling her eyes out. It wasn't the first time he'd come home to find her that way, and even if he was already utterly convinced that she was crying over something ridiculous, Bickslow was still dropping the groceries on the floor and rushing over to her to wrap her in his arms.

"Lucy, baby," he said softly, stroking the hair back out of her face as he pulled (or tried to) her into his lap. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"It's just that…" She paused to rub her nose with the crumpled and tissue. "Well, my favourite character just died."

Bickslow fought the urge to hit his head on the the nearby wall. Instead, he only rolled his eyes since Lucy wouldn't be able to see it. Of course she was bawling her eyes out over a fictional character. She'd cried over a damn cat food commercial just a few weeks earlier, too. "I'm sorry, baby… I'm sure it was for a good reason, though… You know, plot and all…"

"How can you say that?!" Lucy shrieked. "I don't care about the plot! You're as bad as the author!"

Bickslow could only grimace as Lucy climbed off his lamp and hid herself under the throw blanket, proceeding to curse the author _and_ him for being cruel and cold-hearted.


	19. Newlyweds - BixCo

**_Edit: Still on hiatus. Just clearing out my doc manager since these were written before the hiatus announcement._**

 _I really love tumblr requests sometimes... Especially when they're for ships I absolutely adore. It's nice to take breaks from epic chapters every now and then, too._

 _ **Prompt** :"We've become the clingy newlyweds you always complained about." for BixCo_

* * *

 **Newlyweds**

Bickslow couldn't help but chuckle quietly as he pulled his head back and finally separated from his husband - _god_ , he loved that - and finally turned to grab the drink he'd been meaning to before Erik had walked in. "You know, I think we've become the clingy newlyweds you always complained about," he laughed, reaching for the glass and placing it under the sink to fill it up.

The Poison Slayer rolled his eye. "We have not."

"We kind of have, baby," Bickslow chuckled again. He took a sip before setting the glass down, and was then turning to wrap his arms around his husband's waist and press a gentle kiss to his lips again. "Because I can't seem to go more than five minutes without you kissing _me_ or me kissing _you_."

Bickslow wasn't going to complain, though. Hell no. He loved the guy to pieces - hence why they'd gotten married. But it was _Erik_ he was married to, and, well… He wasn't exactly known for being the most affectionate most of the time. Bickslow had to admit it was a welcome change, though…

Erik huffed and ignored the slight warmth that spread across his cheeks. So, maybe they had become the clingy newlyweds that he had to fight the urge to vomit at each time he saw… But Erik just couldn't help himself. He was happy, and he had a home, and damn it, his husband was sexy as hell and he didn't feel like keeping his hands to himself anymore.


	20. Possessive - BixCo

**_Edit: Still on hiatus. Just clearing out my doc manager since these were written before the hiatus announcement._**

 _ **Prompt** : "Is that my shirt?" for BixCo. _

* * *

**Possessive**

Erik walked into the living room to find Bickslow sitting on the middle of the rug with a bowl of soapy water and various dish soaps and wood polishes around him. In his hands, he held one of the newly-painted and repaired totems, and he was polishing it with what Erik couldn't help but find familiar.

And then he realised. That it was his fucking shirt. The one he wore to bed every goddamn night.

"Is that my shirt?" Erik asked as he walked into the living room. The smell of detergent and polish was almost overbearing but he ignored it.

Bickslow nodded. "Yep."

Erik reached down and snatched the soiled article of clothing out of his hands. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" It was ruined. Completely ruined. Polish stained the fabric and the print on the front was flaking off even more. "Why the fuck would you use my shirt to clean the goddamn babies?!"

"Because I needed a rag and this was pretty much it!" Bickslow wasn't going to ruin a perfectly good towel. Oh no. And his boyfriend's pyjama top was pretty much dead anyway. Bickslow didn't even know how it was still in (mostly) one piece.

"This is not a rag!" Erik hugged the shirt to his chest possessively. _Well, it is now, but that's not the point._

"It has _holes_ in it. Holes bigger than my _fist_. And it's fraying!"

"It adds character, okay."

Bickslow only rolled his eyes and sat back on his hands as the Poison Slayer walked away with the ruined shirt in his hands, holding it up to expect it again and cursing under his breath about just how the fuck he was going to get wood polish out of it. Now he needed to find another rag to use.


	21. What the Future Holds - BixCo

**_Edit: Still on hiatus. Just clearing out my doc manager since these were written before the hiatus announcement._**

 _ **Prompt** : "Have you ever thought about… like… us?" for BixCo. _

* * *

**What the Future Holds**

There were times when Cobra seriously questioned what was wrong with his husband. And that night, with them both sitting up in bed, with his husband reading the novel that Lucy had recommended him and with Cobra catching up on some work stuff on his laptop, Cobra was definitely wondering just what the fuck was wrong with his husband.

 _"Have you ever thought about… like… us?"_ was that Bickslow had asked him just a minute ago, and all Erik could do was stare at the man with an eyebrow raised and try and see if he was, in fact, serious.

He was, apparently.

"You're kidding me, right?" Erik asked.

Bickslow shrugged. "No. Why would I be?"

"Because we're fucking _married_."

"I know that." And oh, did he. It really wasn't something Bickslow forgot, although even after four years, he still woke up sometimes and couldn't help but smile when he saw Erik sleeping peacefully just on the other side of the bed. Still, that wasn't what Bickslow had meant when he'd asked his husband that. "I just mean… Do you think about the future? You know, are we… Are we going to buy a house, or… Or get pets… Or have kids and our own family one day…"

Erik raised an eyebrow at the man. "Are you trying to tell me you want kids?"

"N-No!" He really wasn't ready for that. Not yet. "I just… I want to know if you've thought about it." Because Bickslow had. He had a lot. And he'd been thinking about it more and more lately…

And truthfully, Cobra had been thinking about it, too. Shrugging himself that time, he looked back to his laptop screen as he gave his answer, "I've thought about it."

"Good… I just wanted to know… Carry on…" Just knowing that made Bickslow a little calmer though, not that he would've ever come to admit that he'd been nervous about it at all. He just knew that his husband wasn't one to think about the future once.

But for _their_ future? He had. And Bickslow loved that.


	22. It's a Deal - BixCo

_**(Again, still on hiatus, just clearing out my doc manager. And, since these are all written on tumblr anyway, I guess anything in this collection will be excluded from my hiatus anyway.)**_

 _ **Prompt** : "Just pretend to be my date" for BixCo_

* * *

 **It's a Deal**

"I'll pay you fifty bucks if you go with me."

Bickslow snorted at the weak offer, not giving so much as a glance to the other man on the opposite side of the shower door, trying to convince him to go as his date to a friend's wedding. "Fifty bucks? Come on, man. Don't be so cheap," Bickslow said, continuing to rinse the shampoo out of his hair under the spray of the water. "If hookers can charge two-hundred an hour for sex, you better believe I'm sure as hell going to charge _at least_ seventy-five for a wedding."

Erik groaned and rolled his eye. "A hundred then," he offered. " _Please_ , just pretend to be my date for one fucking night." If he had anyone else to ask, he would. He didn't exactly want to be having to find a date for Sorano's wedding, but it what it is, and unfortunately, Bickslow was really just the only person Erik could actually stomach to be around for more than ten minutes.

It helped that they'd been sleeping together for near on three years, though. They just weren't really _together_ together _._

Bickslow finished rinsing the shampoo out and pushed the shower door open just enough to stick his head out. "A hundred and a kiss and you've got yourself a deal."

Rolling his eye again, Erik obliged, leaning forward and quickly kissing the other on the lips. "Fine. There," he grumbled. He unfortunately didn't get the opportunity to turn around and leave to actually get dressed, before he had an arm wrapped around his middle and he was being pulled into the shower for the second time that morning alone.


	23. Company - BixCo

_**(Again, still on hiatus, just clearing out my doc manager. And, since these are all written on tumblr anyway, I guess anything in this collection will be excluded from my hiatus anyway.)**_

 _ **Prompt:** "Why are you crying?" for BixCo. _

* * *

**Company**

Bickslow was on his way back home after returning from a job with the Raijinshuu and Laxus when Bickslow heard it. Or more accurately, the babies heard it – the faint, muffled cries of someone coming from the alleyway – and then they were telling Bickslow about it. And, Bickslow knew that it had to be someone important, or at least slightly so, because otherwise his souls wouldn't have told him about it at all, so he let his curiosity get the better of him and he carefully veered off the cobblestone street and into the dark confines of the narrow alley.

It was at the end of the alley, under a flickering light on the wall and hidden behind empty trashcans and crates that Bickslow saw who it was the muffled sobs had belonged to. But when Bickslow had ventured into the alley, the last person he'd been expecting to find was _him_ , hunched over with his back against the wall and his head on his knees. But the white coat, the silver cuffs around his arms, and the spiked maroon hair instantly gave away his identity.

Cobra had yet to notice Bickslow lurking in the shadows just beyond another pile of crates though, which meant Bickslow had time to think about just what it was he was going to do. Was he going to sit down next to the man and ask him what was wrong, like any decent human being would, or… would he just turn around and slink back out onto the street as quietly as he could and pretend he didn't see Cobra at all? The latter was what Bickslow thought Cobra would appreciate the most, because if it was one thing he'd come to learn about the man in the few years they'd been acquainted, it was that he didn't wear his heart on his sleeve and he wasn't one for letting people in.

But the former…

Bickslow suspected that it was _because_ he knew how little Cobra liked showing his emotions, that he wanted to sit down next to him and ask him what was wrong. They weren't even friends though. They'd said a handful of words to each other in the time they'd known each other. What was to say that Cobra would even talk to him at all?

He could still try though, surely. The worst that could happen was that Cobra would tell him to fuck off, and that was something Bickslow could handle – he'd heard it enough, that was for sure.

So… Bickslow stepped forward, his feet carrying him deeper into the alley until he was no longer shrouded by shadows but was in the warm, yellow light of the lamp, and Cobra finally noticed that he wasn't alone.

It took the Poison Slayer a moment to recognise the cloaked-and-visored man walking towards him. "Bi-Bickslow?" Erik wiped his sleeve across his eyes and sniffled before wiping his nose. "What the fuck are you—"

"Move over, will you?" the Seith mage grumbled as he made to sit down beside him. The alleyway wasn't wide enough for him to sit opposite Cobra, and he'd tucked himself into a nice, cramped little corner. Bickslow didn't think Cobra would appreciate being sat on, though, so asking him to move had been the polite thing to do.

Reluctantly, and as best he could, Cobra scooched over on the cold concrete to make room for the larger man. Even then, there still wasn't much room, so Cobra was well aware of how close Bickslow was to him right then. There wasn't a shred of space between them, and he instantly became aware of the warmth from the other being so close to him.

"You were crying," Bickslow stated before the other had a chance to question why he was there again. "Why?"

Cobra glanced to the Seith mage and he couldn't help but glance back a second time when he realised Bickslow had removed his visor. He made a point of looking away again before he snapped back, "Like it's any of your damn concern."

Bickslow frowned. He'd expected as much, but that didn't mean he liked it. "That's true. It's not really any of my concern…" Bickslow agreed, carefully. "But…"

"But what? You trying to tell me you care or some fucking shit?"

Bickslow bit his tongue. He couldn't give Cobra the excuse that he cared because they were guildmates, because they just weren't. And they didn't know each other well enough to say that it was because they were friends, either. Simply put, Bickslow just didn't have a reason to care. But he did. And he couldn't exactly tell Cobra that, could he?

"You don't have to tell me if you really don't want to," Bickslow said softly. "But if you do"—he shrugged—"then I'm here. Hell, tell me to just fuck off if you really want to."

And, as much as Bickslow expected Cobra to take him up on that offer and tell him to fuck off and mind his own business, it just didn't happen. Cobra didn't say a single world, which only led Bickslow to assume that maybe, part of Cobra really didn't mind the company.

Neither said anything for a while after that. Bickslow still got the impression he wasn't exactly wanted there, and he wasn't going to push Cobra to talk if he didn't really want to. And Cobra was just wondering if there was really any point in talking to Bickslow at all. He already knew why Bickslow was there – his soul had given it away, and Erik doubted that Bickslow had been aware of it at all – but now the question was whether or not the guy was going to judge him, or laugh at him, or… anything else, really.

He watched Bickslow then. He watched his face, mostly because the man was too busy staring down at his hands as he picked at the chipping polish on his nails, and as Cobra watched, and _listened_ , he couldn't really find a reason to actually tell the guy to fuck off. He'd heard stories about the Seith mage though, most of them overheard from when Lucy had complained about him flirting with her or just being an annoying son of a bitch just because he could. But Erik wasn't seeing any of that then.

Strangely, he was only seeing someone who did, for some unknown reason, care. Just because he could, it seemed. And Cobra didn't really know how he was supposed to feel about that.

"Tell me, how many freckles do I actually have?" Bickslow suddenly said, still staring at his hands and continuing to pick at the flaking and chipping polish. "I say it's zero, but Freed and Ever say there's _at least_ ten."

"W-What the fuck?"

The corner of Bickslow's mouth curved up into a tiny smirk. "I know you were staring at me. It was a joke. Relax." His skin was _flawless_ , Freed and Evergreen be damned.

Now though, Cobra could see just why Lucy complained about him so much. The guy definitely could be annoying when he obviously wanted to be.

Still… That didn't really bother Cobra much then. And he still couldn't really find a reason to not talk to him – well, other than the fact that talking just wasn't Cobra's thing to begin with. But even that wasn't really important to Cobra right then. He almost _wanted_ to actually let Bickslow in; to let him see that vulnerable side of him that he always made a point of hiding whenever it reared its ugly head.

He'd stopped crying by then, though that hadn't stopped the odd sniffle or how his eye was still red and puffy from when he had been crying – _disgustingly_ and _embarrassingly_ so – before. He kept his gaze trained on the stack of crates beside him when he finally spoke, asking, "Do you ever worry about ending up alone?"

Bickslow looked back up with an eyebrow raised. "What, do you mean like, not getting married?"

Cobra shrugged. "Something like that, yeah," he mumbled.

"I… I don't know," Bickslow answered quietly, eyes casting down to his hands again. "I don't really think about any of that stuff, to be honest." Whether or not he ended up with someone just didn't matter to Bickslow. He didn't really _want_ to end up with someone, either. "I guess as long as I have my friends around, then… I don't really have a reason to worry about being alone."

"Right…"

Bickslow quickly realised he wasn't being much help right then though. "Why do you ask though?" he asked softly. "I mean, is… Is that why you're… upset? Because you're worried about being alone?"

"Makes me sound fucking pathetic when you say it like that," Cobra muttered.

"You're not pathetic."

He sure felt like it, though. Hiding in a fucking alley and crying because he was scared of ending up alone? That was the _definition_ of pathetic to Cobra. He hated he felt that way at all, though. He certainly hadn't wanted to end up crying about it, either. But he just hadn't even made it home – or, at least to the dingy motel he was staying in – before he'd just broken down, and that was how he'd ended up in the alley at all.

He sniffed and wiped his sleeve across his eyes again before letting out a shaky sigh and continuing, "Everyone's just moving on and shit, being happy and all that, and then I'm just… being pathetic and fucking crying over it like a loser." Cobra shook his head. "Fucking hate myself sometimes." It was so fucking stupid, though. He _liked_ being alone, but there he was, fucking terrified of it. Everyone had just started moving on without him, living their lives like any normal person did, falling in love and getting together with people… And then he was there, being mopey and miserable as shit, because he was pathetic.

"Don't say that…" Bickslow whispered.

He understood where Cobra was coming from, though. He didn't exactly feel it himself, but he understood it – that fear of being left alone while everyone else around you moved on. It was frightening, but… Bickslow had to admit that he was surprised Cobra even felt that way. He didn't know him all that well at all, but… Well… Cobra was—

"Right, because I'm an _asshole_ I'm not _allowed_ to actually end up with someone and not be alone," Cobra scoffed. Bickslow hadn't needed to say it out loud. His soul had said it all for him.

"I didn't mean th—"

"Don't bother. It's fine." He was an asshole anyway. Cobra wouldn't deny that. He wasn't going to accept an empty apology. It was just a waste of words and breath.

Bickslow stared guiltily down to his lap again, dusting the pile of chipped polish off quickly. He wasn't really sure what he was supposed to say anymore. He wasn't even sure he'd been any help at all, to be honest. But… That didn't mean Bickslow was going to give up just yet, though. He'd wanted to help, and he still did.

He nudged the man beside him though, and he forced a smile when Cobra turned his attention back to him. "Well, if all else fails," Bickslow began, "I'll be here. We can be alone together then."

He was offering him nothing more than his company, and strangely, Cobra found himself being just that little less afraid of ending up alone in the world. At the very least, he'd have the Seith mage.

* * *

 _ **A/Ns:** This one does have a possible sequel. If you want it, please let me know, so then I can actually write it... _


	24. Magic Rum - Raijinshuu

_Yeah, I think I'll just say this collection is excluded from my hiatus. Since, again, 99% of these are tumblr requests anyway. And, starting from now, I'm probably not going to be checking any emails from as well... (I might just remove that email account from my phone temporarily). Anyway..._

 _ **Prompt** : "HOLY SHIT HOW THE FUCK DID YOU GET SO TALL? WHAT THE FUCK?" for the Raijindorks. (Courtesy of Empress of Everything, of course, and I quote the original request: "I want them plastered. It'll be great.")_

* * *

 **Magic Rum**

Freed didn't realise he was falling backwards until he was lying down on the carpeted floor and he was holding the amber bottle right above him. He stuck his tongue out, desperately waiting for but a single drop of the delicious spiced rum to fall, but it never happened. With a groan, drawing the attention of his equally as inebriated teammate, Freed dropped the empty bottle down onto the ground beside him. "There's no more rum… Why is there no more rum…" he mumbled tiredly.

Bickslow made a face when he saw his dishevelled captain sprawled out on the ground beside him. "Freeeeeedo!" he slurred. "What are ya doin' down there?"

"I don't quite know…" the Runes mage admitted. "I wanted the rum… But the rum is gone… Why is the rum gone, Bickslow?"

"Well, that's no good!" Bickslow only seemed to ignore his friend's rum problem as he picked himself up off the pillow he was seated on, and crawled over to Freed's side to collapse down next to him, moving the empty bottle aside (it wouldn't make a very good pillow). He couldn't quite help but giggle once he was staring up at the ceiling beside his friend. "Hey! The shadows look like clouds!"

Freed tilted his head to the side, his hair becoming even more tangled and splayed out on the carpet. "So they do…"

Evergreen walked back into the shared living room at that moment to find her teammates lying side-by-side on the ground and giggling like fools at the shape of the shadows on the ceiling. She leaves them alone for five minutes to try and find more nachos from the kitchen, and this is what happens?

"What on earth do you two think you're doing down there?" she asked, standing directly behind their heads, hand on hip and the other supporting the bowl of corn chips covered generously with cheese and salsa.

"Ever… The rum is gone…" Freed groaned again.

Bickslow, on the other hand, screamed, once he noticed his female teammate's presence. The other two didn't get a chance to ask just what the fuck it was that had spooked him so suddenly before he was pointing up to her, head tipping back into the carpet slightly to get a better view of her, and was shouting, "Holy shit! How the fuck did you get so tall? What the fuck?!" She was a giant! She had to be over ten feet tall!

"It was the rum," Freed commented. "The rum is magical!" He sat up with a gasp to lean on his elbow, grabbing Evergreen's ankle to whisper harshly, "Is the rum magical?!"

Evergreen merely rolled her eyes, fetched the unopened bottle of rum on the coffee table in front of the two morons, and then sat herself down on the middle of the sofa to get back to their movie night. It was at times like that that Evergreen remembered why she didn't drink much with her brothers… They were lightweights.


	25. Tastebuds - Mineel

_**Prompt** : "This tastes horrible" for Mineel._

* * *

 **Tastebuds**

"This tastes horrible."

Minerva tried not to be offended as her husband spat out the freshly baked honey macadamia cookie and grabbed a paper towel to wipe his mouth. Never, in all the years they'd been together, had Gajeel ever spat out anything she'd fed him (well, unless it had been _raw_ of course, but that was never intentional). Not even the fudge brownies that she knew Gajeel hated with a burning passion, despite his loathing of all things sugary and sweet. He'd always stomached them and given her pointers when she'd been experimenting with recipes.

But spit them out? Oh no. That just didn't happen.

"E-Excuse me?" Minerva shrieked, uncharacteristically so as she continued to gawk at the man she had, for some reason, exchanged vows with.

"It tastes horrible," Gajeel repeated. Too much honey, not enough macadamia chips, and way, _way_ too soft in the middle. To Gajeel, that spelled _horrible_.

Now, Minerva really was offended. Especially when Gajeel made it obvious that he wasn't going to tell her just _why_ it tastes so horrible, and instead just picked up his coffee and laptop and headed for their living room.

Her cookies taste amazing, thank you very much. It wasn't her fault her husband's taste was up his ass (although considering he was a chef and had his own restaurant, Minerva did find that just a little odd at times).

With a huff, Minerva pulled her oven mitts off and threw them onto the bench. "Yeah, well!" she shouted, trailing off when she realised she didn't even have a response. But then she spied the fridge, and she remembered how Gajeel had been spending the entire night before perfecting his famed lasagne dish after a critic had insulted it. She hadn't tried it yet, because she'd been asleep like a normal person, but as far as she knew, it tasted completely disgusting! "W-Well… Well your new lasagne tastes horrible, too!" Minerva shouted into the living room.

She grabbed a fork from the dish-rack and took the cling wrap from the glass dish, and tore off a small corner of the lasagne to shove in her mouth. It was cold, but that didn't stop Minerva from moaning around the mouthful of delicious pasta. It was so good her knees felt weak for a moment.

Five minutes later, Gajeel returned to the kitchen to find his wife sitting on the floor with the dish of cold lasagne on her lap, and crying over how much she did, in fact, love it.


	26. Traitors - BixLu

_**Prompt** : "You're cute when you're angry" + BixLu_

* * *

 **Traitors**

Lucy couldn't help but giggle at the sight of her boyfriend sulking, arms crossed and an adorable scowl on his face.

"It's not funny! Stop laughing!" Bickslow complained, shooting the woman and his traitorous one-year-old daughter on her lap a glare as sharp as daggers.

"Aw, come on. It was pretty funny," Lucy insisted. The only reason Bickslow was like that at all was because their daughter hadn't said _his_ name first - instead, it had been _Laxy_ for her precious Uncle Laxus. How that had happened, Lucy honestly had no idea, but she'd just about burst into laughter and had had to fight the urge to just collapse on the floor from laughing so hard when it had happened.

"It's not," Bickslow said. He was offended, damn it. His favourite human had chosen another human over him. Who knew babies could be so cruel. "She's evil. Horrible. I'm disowning her. Laxus can have her."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic, Bixy." She set the happy baby down on the Seith mage's lap, forcing him to uncross his arms and hold onto her so she didn't fall. "You're so cute when you're angry," she giggled. Bickslow merely huffed in annoyance when the woman kissed his cheek before leaning down to kiss their daughter on the head and tickle her gently. "Daddy's just so cute, isn't he? Yes he is!"

Bickslow only continued to scowl as he held the squirming traitor on his lap. As soon as Lucy was out of the room though, her laughter still travelling down the hall, Bickslow simply picked up his daughter and set her down on the floor. "…Traitor."

Traitors didn't get cuddles.


	27. Haunted - GaLu

_**Prompt** : "I swear my house is haunted" + GaLu_

* * *

 **Haunted**

 _"I swear my house is haunted,"_ is what Lucy had said when she'd climbed into his bed beside him just the night before, only making Gajeel roll his eyes and try and convince his girlfriend for the umpteenth time that her new house was not, in fact, haunted.

She'd been complaining about it for weeks, ever since she'd moved into the charming little inner-city cottage and started hearing the odd bump in the night. He'd told her countless times that it was just the age of her house showing, but alas, Lucy hadn't listened to reason and insisted that she had an unwanted house guest.

So that was how Gajeel came to waiting on the front steps of Lucy's little house, shivering and jumping up and down on the spot while he waited for his beloved girlfriend to _hurry the fuck up and unlock the door._ "Jeez, take your time, will you?" he muttered, his warm breath turning to steam right in front of him.

Lucy rolled her eyes as she finally got the door unlocked. "The lock gets stuck in winter, okay. Give me a break." She was going to get it fixed… one day. Pushing the creaky door open, she let herself in and switched on the lights, and held the door open for Gajeel, then closed the door firmly behind him once he was in.

As far as Gajeel could tell, everything was perfectly normal. No ghosts, no ghouls, no spectres. He couldn't help but give a tired sigh as he turned to his girlfriend, shrugging his shoulders as he shoved his hands back in his pockets. "See? I told you it wasn't haunted."

She made a face at him as she hung her coat up on the wall. "Patience, Gajeel. I'm telling you, it is," she insisted. "Just wait for it."

Indulging her, Gajeel took off his own coat and made himself at home. If he was going to wait it out for a ghost that didn't exist, he was sure as hell going to be comfortable while doing so. So, he went and helped Lucy in the kitchen as she made them a simple yet warm and delicious dinner, pouring each of them a glass of wine to go with it, and then returned to her living room so they could eat and watch a movie together.

It was halfway through that Lucy heard the first of the odd noises she'd become accustomed to hearing. She sat up suddenly, lifting her head from Gajeel's shoulder to turn and look back to her hall, where she thought the sound had come from. "Did you hear that?"

"It was probably just a damn cat, Bunny," he sighed. Those pesky creatures got into all sorts of trouble in the middle of the night.

"It wasn't a cat…"

Gajeel simply ignored her and went back to their movie, wrapping his arm back around Lucy's shoulders once she gave up and let her head fall to rest on him once again. It was only a few moments after that that the next noise occurred - a loud creak that definitely wasn't from a cat - and a strange chill settled in the room. Even Gajeel was shifting that time, turning to look over his shoulder and asking, "What the hell was that?"

"See! I'm telling you, this house is haunted!" Lucy hissed.

There was another creak then, followed by another one, and then the sound of a door slamming. "It's… It's just the wind." Gajeel gulped. He pulled the throw blanket up to his chin and tried to sink into the lounge. "Not haunted. It's just the wind. And your house is old as shit."

Lucy huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine…" she mumbled. But she knew better.

But that was when the pillow sitting on the armchair just next to the lounge suddenly fell to the floor, despite it being nowhere near the edge, and that was the last straw for Gajeel. "Fuck this fucking shit, I'm out of here!" Screaming, he shot up from the lounge, almost tripping over the blanket and his own feet in the process, and raced out the front door to jump in his car.

It was official. Lucy's house was haunted. And Lucy only sat there stunned for a moment, staring at the open front door that her boyfriend had just run straight out of, screaming like a little girl.


	28. Natsu the Live-In Dragon - BrOTP NaLu

_**Prompt** : Natsu and Lucy meeting as dragons. _

_( **Not** romantic/OTP!NaLu. This is  BrOTP!NaLu. See it however you want, to be honest, but it was not written with any romantic intentions in mind, and it will stay that way.) _

* * *

**Natsu the Live-in Dragon**

Her yellow-scaled tail swished along the ground as she made her way back to the den she called home. Lucy didn't like leaving the den much those days, especially when it meant leaving her egg unattended – they'd had one stolen by those horrible little creatures called _humans_ once before. Granted, she had gone and wreaked havoc on the village and gotten her egg back just in time for it to hatch, but that wasn't the point. Their current lair was between two villages, and some of the humans had been getting too close for comfort lately, so Lucy had taken to doing little surveillance flights every now and then. At least if she saw some of those nasty little humans coming for her (or her egg, more accurately), she could go someplace safe for a little while. She certainly couldn't fight off those creatures while she was trying to protect her egg. Lucy wasn't a very big dragon to begin with anyway. Her mate, on the other hand...

Well, aside from her mate being a big and scary dragon (or so he claimed, but Lucy wasn't quite sure of that), her mate was also no doubt off teaching the other hatchlings to fly (or so he'd said), although Lucy knew that he was probably just off terrorising humans from the sky with the younger dragons. (He claimed it helped them become swifter since they were having to dodge all the arrows the villagers aimed at them. Lucy disagreed, of course.)

But, on her fly-by that evening, Lucy had found not a single human nearby, so she was going to retire to her den with peace of mind, knowing that her egg would be safe there for another night, deep inside the lair and protected from everything.

 _Meow!_

Lucy jumped up at the strange sound, her head colliding with the rock at the top of the den, loose stones and fragments of shale crumbling and falling to the damp floor. She backed into one of the walls, her tail wrapping around the front of herself as she looked for the offending _creature_ that had made the small noise.

 _Meow!_

A blue feline of sorts emerged from the shadows and came to sit in the small patch of light shining on the floor from the large crack in the cave roof. It made the strange noise again, and Lucy flicked her tail at it. "Shoo! Be gone!" she hissed at it. She didn't think it was a harmful creature – it was smaller than her egg hidden deep in the den – so she didn't think it was worth really harming the small thing. But apparently her tail was fascinating to the little creature, and the feline kept pouncing on the tip of it. Lucy continuing to swish it only made it worse, she quickly realised, so she pulled her tail up and held it between her front paws. "No! Bad creature! Leave my tail alone!"

 _Meow?_

The cat continued to stare at her, and Lucy didn't like that one bit. She needed to get rid of it. So, she carefully backed away from the wall she was pressed against in an awkward fashion, and then picked the feline up in her jaws, holding it just tight enough that it wouldn't slip but gently enough that her teeth wouldn't pierce the animal's skin. It continued to meow as she carried it all the way back outside, its tail swishing at the side of her snout angrily. Once outside, Lucy dropped the animal onto the ground (she was almost fascinated by how it landed on its feet so perfectly) and then turned back around to go take a nap next to her egg.

Except... The cat followed her back inside And every time Lucy turned over her shoulder to look at it, the cat would sit and _meow_ at her again. At some point, she just gave up, thinking that there were worse creatures to have stalking her.

So, she continued on her way, weaving around the stalagmites that had formed deeper inside the cave to get to the safe haven she'd chosen for her egg. But where Lucy expected to see her blue, yellow, and purple egg sitting all alone in the nest she'd perfectly crafted for it, Lucy found a dragon. A dragon that was not her mate. A dragon that was red and snoring and should most definitely _not_ be there right then.

She huffed, quickly forgetting about the cat that was following her as she stomped over to the intruder dragon to snatch up her weakening egg from where the red dragon had curled himself around it. Lucy swished the dragon with her tail then (it was the only free limb left), repeatedly flicking the dragon's snout with the tip to get him to wake up.

The red dragon's nose twitched before he sneezed, a little puff of red flame sparking from his open mouth. Lucy flicked him again, quickly growing impatient as the dragon only curled himself up again. It was much easier to wake her _mate_ up... Well, sometimes.

Growling, the red dragon eventually emerged from his slumber, stretching out slightly, his tail long tail unfurling from around himself to swish slightly in the air. He blinked twice as he opened his eyes, and then blinked again when he came to see a bright yellow dragon sitting on her haunches and protectively clutching the egg he could've sworn he was wrapped around when he'd gone to sleep.

"You. What in elder's name do you think you're doing?" Lucy hissed. If she couldn't ward off humans, then she'd certainly lose against a dragon – especially one much larger than herself.

"Huh?" the dragon mumbled. He stretched again before he rose to stand on all feet, peering behind the yellow dragon in search of his blue-furred friend. "Have you seen Happy? You didn't eat him, did you?"

"Excuse me? Did I eat _what_?"

"The cat. The blue cat. He was here just before, I swear..." he mumbled.

 _Meow!_

The red dragon grinned as his small companion came padding up to him, and the cat purred as it nuzzled the dragon's scaley hide. "Happy! There you are! Were you keeping watch, buddy?"

 _Meow, meow!_

Lucy just watched in utter shock and slight mortification as she watched how the small feline was lifted up with the broad tail of the red dragon, and then placed on top of the dragon's head. How those two were _companions_ , she had no idea. Most small creatures just ran away from her in terror...

She shook her head and clutched the egg to herself tighter. It felt warm against her – almost too warm, even, but that didn't seem to bother her much. "You didn't answer me," Lucy continued. " _What. Do. You. Think. You. Are. Doing. Here?_ " she demanded.

The red dragon lifted a paw to scratch his ear with a pointed talon. Why was the yellow dragon being so huffy about him being there? He didn't really know. "I just wanted to have a nap, that's all," he told her.

"So you thought you could just waltz into someone's den?"

"Well, I didn't know it was _your_ den." Though he was guessing it was, considering how protective she was of the egg.

Lucy lifted up the egg to show it to him again for emphasis. "Egg! There was an egg here!" she glowered. "Whose den would it be?!"

He shrugged. "I thought it might've been abandoned, so I thought I would look after it," he said. He'd come across plenty of abandoned eggs in his life. He didn't like how many he'd seen, though.

She felt herself calming down a little and she sat back, bringing the egg back in against her. "Oh... I see..." Lucy murmured. She too knew how often dragons could abandon their wyrmlings before they'd even hatched. But she was not that kind of mother. She protected all of her little dragons, right up until she was sick of dealing with them and she kicked them out of the nest. (Her oldest hatchlings were just about there, thankfully. They were beginning to get on her nerves.)

But... Maybe this red dragon really had meant well. As far as Lucy could tell, the egg hadn't been harmed either, so... Maybe, she'd just overreacted a little bit. Granted, her going all out with the mysterious red dragon (and probably losing) would've been justified, especially since her egg had been on the line. And if it had been her mate returning to find a strange dragon curled around the egg, well... There would've been a dead dragon in their lair. Her mate was very protective of his hatchlings. Lucy liked it, though.

Lucy liked to think that they could go their separate ways without a fuss. She could go back to minding her egg, and... Well, whoever the red dragon was, he could go find his own den and not intrude on someone else's (and he could take the damn cat with him, too).

She lifted her nose high and huffed again. "Well... Thank you, I suppose. For not, you know... harming it..." she said quietly. It would've been a very different conversation had her egg been harmed.

The red dragon shrugged. "I wasn't gonna hurt an egg. We're a small race, you know!"

"I know... But... You still need to leave."

"Aww, but why? It's so nice here!"

"Because... Because it's my den!" Lucy answered. "Not yours!"

He turned around on the spot, breathing a warm ring of fire beneath his feet before collapsing down and curling up on himself, giving the yellow dragon his best hatchling-like pout and trying to draw out her motherly instincts. "We don't take up much room! And Happy doesn't eat much!" he argued.

Lucy huffed again, a little smoke coming from her flared nostrils that time. Who did this dragon think he was? He was nuisance, that was what! "No! I don't care!" She turned slightly just to flick him with her tail again. Fortunately for Lucy, her tail was somewhat barbed at the end, so she doubted the red dragon would be able to put up with her flicking him for long. "You are not staying here! Especially when I don't even know if you have a name or not!" Knowing her intruder's name was a bare minimum for letting him stay.

"It's Natsu. I think. That sounds about right... But—"

"No buts, _Natsu_!"

Natsu growled under his breath and pushed himself up again as Happy continued to purr where he was perched on top of his head, curled up into a perfect little ball. "Fine, fine... I'll go..."

"Good!"

He was like an abandoned puppy as he left, tail dragging along the ground as he let his head hang down shamefully. Lucy followed him, waddling behind him on her hind legs as she continued to clutch at her precious egg (she wasn't letting go of it anytime soon). And every time Natsu turned to look over his shoulder, maybe to try and make her change her mind and let him stay, Lucy merely glowered at him and he sighed and just kept walking.

"Are you sure I can't stay?" he asked at the mouth of the dark cave. "There's no good lairs around here!"

"Well, that's not my problem!" She was lucky. She'd made her cave a home. And it was close enough to the stream and deep enough in the mountains that it was strangely warm – perfect for the little hatchlings and hard for horrible humans to reach quickly. "You're not staying," Lucy insisted. "And if you come back again, well... Well, you'll regret it!" Her mate surely wouldn't appreciate a strange male dragon invading his territory anyway.

"Fine..." Natsu mumbled dejectedly, and he finally turned to leave the cave. "Come on, Happy. We'll go find our own den... Where it's nice and warm and cosy..."

* * *

Later, after the sun had long since set and her mate and her other hatchlings had returned, Lucy was woken up to the sound of her cave roof collapsing on itself and then a loud thud from some kind of monstrous creature falling through the new hole. It was a cloudless night and the moon was directly above them, so as soon as Lucy saw the large red wings unfurling just right in front of her to shake off the excess rock, as well as the small blue feline scampering away from the rubble, she knew exactly who it was that had just literally come crashing into her den.

"Natsu!" Lucy screeched. "What do you think you're doing?!"

The red dragon pawed at the back of his head. He'd merely been trying to peer into the small slit in the cave roof, but then all of a sudden he'd been falling through the rock and shale and picking himself up from the cave floor. "Y'know, you really should've chosen your lair a little more carefully," Natsu mused. "That could've really hurt someone!"

She was absolutely at a loss for what to do with that dragon right then. She'd never come across a dragon like that before. He was just so _odd_. And rude. And he had to be downright _moronic_ to have actually come back. She'd made it quite clear that the cave was hers, thank you very much.

Beside her though, her two oldest hatchlings merely yawned and continued to sleep tangled up in a mess of tails, wings, and limbs. And behind her, her purple and blue-scaled mate continued to snore peacefully where he was still wrapped protectively around the egg, just like he always was. Lucy huffed, and she turned to flick him repeatedly with her tail. "Oi, you miserable waste of scales. Are you seeing this?" she hissed, trying to get his attention. The dragon groaned in his sleep. "He's invading your territory!" Lucy continued. "He could hurt the egg! Or your hatchlings!"

Natsu blinked at the spectacle, sitting up peacefully and watching in mild amusement. He had to admit he found the yellow dragon's family just a little cute right then, all curled up together. All Natsu had was Happy.

But, try as Lucy might, her mate did, in fact, refuse to wake up. The larger dragon even made a point of growling under his breath and getting up, just to walk around in a circle, half asleep, and then collapse back down in the opposite direction, facing the cave wall that time and letting his long tail swish back to flick Lucy. He was getting old, damn it. He liked his sleep.

"Stupid overgrown lizard," Lucy muttered. She turned to find Natsu watching her in mild amusement, and she could only sigh and then quickly glance around at the large cave. She had a feeling she wasn't going to be getting rid of Natsu anytime soon, and... Well, she also had a feeling that the red dragon really just wanted somewhere warm to sleep. The den was big enough for all of them. At least for a little while.

She lifted her front paw to point a sharpened talon to the far side of the dark cave. "You can go sleep over there for now," she told him. "Come near my dragons and I will hurt you."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Natsu bounded over to his designated space like an overexcited hatchling, with Happy following closely behind him.

Lucy merely shook her head before she got up just to warm the spot beneath her with a little flame. She only hoped the red dragon didn't snore too loud. She'd probably be able to deal with him then.

* * *

 _ **A/Ns:** I don't usually add notes to the end, but I kind of figure more people are likely to read them then? Maybe? I don't know. _

_Anyway. Fic-wise, I originally didn't want to write this, just because I don't like NaLu and I pretty much refuse to write it. But, a friend on tumblr helped me figure out something to write so that's how protective mama dragon Lucy came to exist. I strangely love it? Also, I have no idea how to write dragons, if you can't tell._

 _Now, onto the_ not _-fic stuff. I decided I'd just make my entire hiatus thing a 'semi-hiatus'. Since, after all, I am still somewhat active on here. At this point my hiatus is only for chapter stories and longer one-shots (i.e, everything_ except _requests). I think that works a little better._

 _Also, I made a separate blog on tumblr for all of my writing. It's_ **april-vsthewords . tumblr . com.** _Also, for anyone curious about Third Time's the Charm and Adventures in Step-Parenting, I have actually posted Chapter 7 and Part 2 (respectively) to my tumblr. If you want to read those, feel free to dig around my blogs to find them, since those two won't be getting updated on here anytime soon._


	29. Morning Cuddles - Mineel

_No prompt for this one. Not really, at least. I just wanted to write something somewhat fluffy/sweet for gsut/Ellery's birthday. And, well, she single handedly made me adore this ship, so it was kind of an excuse to write more Mineel._

* * *

 **Morning Cuddles**

At 6:30 a.m. sharp, Minerva silently out of bed to slip her feet into her fluffy rainbow slippers and creep out into the hall as soundlessly as possible, making her way to the twins' room. Both girls were up and holding onto the bars in their cribs when Minerva walked in and turned the light on, and she couldn't keep herself from smiling brightly at them, cooing softly at them as she leant down to press kisses to each of their heads. "Good morning, my little munchkins!"

"Mama! Mama!"

Minerva laughed quietly at them reaching for her within their cribs right next to each other. She caved, deciding she needed her morning cuddles from her daughters, and pushed the railings down on each crib to take the two-year-olds out one at a time. "Come on, cuddle time for Mama," she said, giggling when she sat cross-legged on the floor and hauled both of them up into her lap to wrap her arms around them as they proceeded to almost strangle her with their tiny arms and press lots of little toddler kisses on her cheeks. Minerva wasn't sure how they'd ended up so affectionate, especially when herself and their father weren't overly affectionate themselves (at least not in front of the children all that much), but she loved it nonetheless. Her girls were total sweethearts.

"Papa birthday?" one of them asked then.

"Yes, it is Papa's birthday! You remembered!" Then again, she had been letting the twins help her with the cake decorating the night before (or, _one_ of the cakes at least. She couldn't very well let her husband's only birthday cake be one that was decorated by a two-year-old), as well as shopping for last minute gifts throughout the week and even helping the raven-haired spawn craft their own little present for their father (they'd insisted on it, although Minerva still wasn't sure if the guy was going to appreciate all the glitter they'd used in the making of their gift). But, it was their Papa's birthday, and that was really the only reason Minerva was up so early at all. "Do you want to go see Papa now?"

The twins nodded their heads quickly, shouting, "Go see Papa!" as they picked themselves up and waddled out into the hall to go wake up their father. Minerva could only roll her eyes as she pulled herself up from the floor and followed them back into her room, just in time to see the two of them climb up onto the bed and pounce on the sleeping human.

And it was to the sound of giggling and the feel of tiny fingers being shoved in his nose, sloppy toddler kisses to his mouth and his cheeks, and his hair being pulled (and not in the way he liked) that Gajeel was, unfortunately, waking up. He groaned and fought the urge to just hide his face in the pillow and pull the covers over his head. Sleepy time was precious, damn it.

But…

His kids were _slightly_ more precious that his beauty sleep, so instead of hiding and ignoring them pawing at his face (he'd already had to take out half of his piercings after their grabby little paws had ripped some of them out multiple times), Gajeel sighed and carefully rolled onto his back, opening his eyes up slowly and wincing at the harsh light until he could clearly see the precious faces of his demon spawn hovering above him.

"Papa!" They launched themselves at him and threw their arms around his neck, and Gajeel couldn't help but laugh quietly. "It your birthday, Papa!" one of them announced happily.

"Didn't I have a birthday last year?" he mused.

The other twin shook her head. "Silly Papa," she said. "Birthday every year!"

"Huh. I guess you're right." Gajeel paused only for a moment, glancing between the two giggling girls leaning on his chest on either side of him. And then, with a devilish smirk curling the corner of his mouth, he was quickly wrapping his arms around the twins, pulling them tightly into his chest and squeezing them (gently) together. "Ah, come 'ere you two. Love ya, my little demons."

Minerva smiled fondly at the scene before her eyes. It was always one of her favourites, and her daughters' bright laughter and squealing from Gajeel tickling them was like music to her ears. The only downside was that their sweet little moment wasn't going to last as long as Minerva liked, since it was still a weekday and they each had to go to work soon.

For now though, they could just enjoy it for a little while longer before getting everyone ready for work or daycare. And so, she was kicking her soft slippers off and climbing back into bed beside the rest of her happy family, only leaning down to press a gentle kiss to her husband's temple and whispering, "Happy birthday, Gaj."

Unfortunately, that was when the tables turned, and it was Minerva who found herself being sat on by two giggling toddlers and an uncharacteristically affectionate husband. But she would survive.


	30. Plot Bucket Challenge - Laki & Gray

_I straight up have no words for this. It was for Dragon's (dragonshost) Plot Bucket Challenge on Tumblr. Basically, we got a pairing and three prompts and had to come up with something. It seemed like a good idea at the time... Until I saw what I'd been given._

 _Anyway. I couldn't work on anything else, so I decided to get this out of the way. Reminder for those that haven't yet seen them, both APS and S &S were updated, so yay for progress! Also, don't forget about BixCo week in October! _

_**Prompt** : Laki x Gray. Red Herring; Great Battle; Major Injury Underreaction. _

* * *

**Plot Bucket Challenge**

The entire thing had just been one big cluster-fuck of chaos and carnage and then even more chaos.

The guild had been reduced to nothing but splinters and nails. The town had almost become a mountain of rubble and roof-tiles. And somewhere, there was a great, big, hunk of dragon on top of it all. Where Acnologia's body had landed, no one was really sure just yet. But knowing their luck, it would've been right over Kardia Cathedral. It was bad enough the town and the church had still been trying to clean up after the events of Tartaros, but now they had to deal with a dragon corpse and rebuild everything again?

Everyone in Fairy Tail already knew that they'd be _lucky_ to be allowed to rebuild the guild again after all of the destruction they'd brought to that corner of Fiore.

Still, buildings weren't the only things to be destroyed that time. They'd lost lives that time. And while some had been lucky to avoid getting but a single scratch on them, others had come so close that they'd stared death itself right in its cold, lifeless eyes.

Gray was one of those people. First it had been with Juvia and Invel. And then… Well, Gray wasn't really too sure what had happened to him the second time. But one minute, he'd been fine and celebrating with some of the guild over the literal fall of Acnologia, and the next… The next minute, he'd been looking down to find a splintered piece of wood piercing him right in the middle of his abdomen.

He really didn't know what it had happened. Maybe it had been when Acnologia had destroyed the ships, and he'd been too worried about making sure Lucy's and everyone else's plan succeeded that he hadn't noticed getting hurt. Whatever the case was, it didn't change the fact that he presently had a giant fucking piece of wood sticking through him.

 _As long as I can find Wendy, I'll be fine._ Wendy could fix everything. She was Wendy, after all. Although Gray didn't know where she was, which was probably going to prove to be just a little bit of a problem.

He looked down again and tried grasping the plank of wood. Tiny splinters dug into his palm but the slight sting of them piercing the rough skin was nothing compared to the burning pain he felt when he tried pulling the whole piece out of his stomach. He doubled over in pain for a moment, only wincing when it made the pain worse, and he took a few deep, pained breaths.

It was fine. He'd dealt with worse. As long as he got the plank out and patched himself up with ice until he found Wendy, he'd be fine. Totally fine. One-hundred percent A-OK.

When he tried pulling it out again, Gray could _feel_ it being moved. He swore he could feel every single splinter of it ripping off and getting caught inside him. He knew that it had gone straight through to his back as well, because he could feel the warm gush of blood running down from the open wound over his cold sweat-slicked skin. Gray figured it was best to take a moment to deal with one side at a time, so he reached behind himself, touching his palm to where the large, narrow wound was just above his right hip, to cover it with ice and stop it from getting any worse.

Everyone else was still cheering and celebrating as Gray continued to slowly tug the plank out of himself. He thought it was a good thing, really. People would overreact – especially Juvia – and really, it was unnecessary. He was fine. But one person turned at just the right move to see the Ice-Make mage pull the last of the blood-stained, splintered plank out of his abdomen, before he dropped the dangerously sharp piece to the stone ground.

Laki pulled herself away from the crowd to rush over to Gray. She almost had to tear her eyes away from the piece of timber – so sharp, and the grain… Oh, it had such a pretty grain. She looked back to Gray, to where he held his hand over the gaping wound just beside his navel. Crimson spilled between his fingers and down to seep into the fabric of his pants despite how hard he tried to apply pressure and get the bleeding to slow down.

"My god, Gray," Laki whispered. "How the hell did you manage to become a human kebab?"

He shrugged a little as he held himself up against the wall with his free hand, hobbling along. "Dunno, really," he mumbled. He kept looking down to his hand and he frowned when he realised that he couldn't form any more ice. That was just another small problem. "Do you know where Wendy is?"

His words were just a little slurred then, but only slightly. Laki stepped closer just to try and stop Gray from continuing to move. Where he was trying to go, she had no clue. "Haven't the slightest idea," she said. She grabbed his hand to pull it away from the wall and then moved her hands up to his shoulders. "Gray, seriously man, just sit down."

"What? Why? I'm fine."

"You have a hole the size of an encyclopedia in your stomach. You're not fine."

Gray shrugged a little again. Okay, so it was pretty big. It was just narrow. "I've had worse."

Laki managed to force Gray to the ground after a little struggling, propping him up on a pile of rubble she covered with her cape so it didn't dig in to his back too much. She knew her magic wasn't suited to healing or treating any kind of injury, but she'd spent enough time around Gildarts to know basic first aid for those kinds of situations. Prying Gray's hand away, she managed to finally get a decent look at his wound. And really, how the man could still think he was fine, Laki had no idea. He was quite possibly the _opposite_ of fine.

She shook her head at him as she ripped off a section of her cape on the ground just to try and soak up some of the excess blood at the entry wound before she covered it with her hands. "I really doubt you've had worse," Laki muttered. Still, Laki wondered just what she was supposed to do for Gray. It wouldn't be long before everyone else noticed, of course, but still, their guild wasn't particularly known for having healer-type mages. They really only had a few, with Wendy's magic being the most suitable for all kinds of injuries.

But Laki's thoughts were momentarily interrupted as something falling from the sky caught her eye. And then out of nowhere, a single red herring landed right down on the pavement next to the pavement, flopping once, twice, before it stopped still.

Gray only thought he was hallucinating.


	31. A Bad Day to Visit - Gray & Jellal

Another tumblr request. This one was sitting in my inbox for like nearly two months. I kept forgetting about it. Oops.

Prompt: "Where are your pants?" + Grellal (Gray/Jellal)

* * *

 **A Bad Day to Visit**

Jellal didn't visit Fairy Tail often for multiple reasons. He rarely visited Magnolia for starters. And even when he was in Magnolia with the rest of Crime Sorciere, he simply didn't have a reason to visit the Fairy guild anyway. That, and he didn't actually like visiting the guild if he had to be perfectly honest. It was always so… chaotic.

That time though, Meredy had expressed her desire to catch up with Juvia, so there Jellal was, sitting in the middle of Fairy Tail's guild hall, and wishing he could literally be anywhere else.

It was so noisy there. He'd already had to duck from having a chair go flying over his head, and then there'd been these weird little… _totem_ things zooming around him and chanting something menacing. Was it too much to ask for a little peace or civility?

Apparently so, when it came to Fairy Tail.

It was really no surprise to Jellal that Erik and Macbeth had already disappeared, no doubt to somewhere quiet (Jellal kind of envied them in that moment).

The white-haired woman tending the bar smiled apologetically to him as she fetched him another glass of water. "You chose a bad day to visit," Mira said. "The guild isn't usually this bad."

Jellal took a sip of his drink. _I doubt that_ , he thought. But he nodded in thanks before responding, "Just my luck then."

Another mage came up to the bar just beside where he was sitting, and Jellal spared a glance in that direction. He quickly recognised him to be Gray, and turned back to his glass of water in front of him before his head snapped back around and he looked to Gray again.

He might not have spared the Ice Make mage a second glance had he been wearing a shirt. Jellal's brow furrowed as he kept slowly looking down. His arms and torso were completely bare, the scar on his hip completely visible. But to Jellal's confusion, his legs and feet were also bare, save from the thin fabric of his black boxer-shorts.

He'd heard stories about Gray and his stripping habit, but Jellal had thought they were merely _stories_. He cleared his throat and looked back up to Gray's expressionless face, waiting for his drink to be served by Mira. "Where… Where are your pants?" Jellal asked finally.

Gray finally glanced down to the hooded-mage. He'd known Crime Sorciere were visiting, because he'd already seen Meredy with Juvia. "Hm?"

"Your pants," Jellal repeated. He nodded downwards. "You're not wearing any pants."

Gray looked down at himself, and he rolled his eyes and let out a frustrated groan as he quickly stormed away from the bar. "God-fucking-damnit."

Jellal could only watch in mild amusement as Gray went off to find his discarded clothes.


	32. Called It - BixLu

_Prompt: "I'm calling it, he's going to die." + BixLu_

* * *

 **Called It**

Lucy returned with the bowl of chips and set it down on her lap after tucking herself in against her boyfriend's side. Bickslow merely rolled his eyes as Lucy got herself comfortable. "Are you done now? Or do you want to elbow me some more?" She may be comfortable, but _he_ certainly wasn't.

"Yep. I'm done," she replied, reaching into the bowl for a handful of the chips.

He refrained from rolling his eyes again as he finally reached for the remote. "So does that mean I can start it now?" He'd only been waiting for the last hour to finally start watching his show.

First it had been Lucy putting their son to bed, and then she'd wanted to go and have a shower and put her pyjamas on, and then she'd wanted to get a snack. And Bickslow? Bickslow had just been sitting on the lounge and waiting, because he hadn't really had anything else to do. He would've just started the show on his own, he'd been that excited to finally watch it (everyone had been raving about it for the last five years and Bickslow had started feeling like he was the only one who wasn't watching the fantasy drama), but he knew Lucy would've been mad if he'd done that.

So, he'd waited. Now though, if Lucy wasn't ready to watch it, he was probably just going to give up and go to bed.

"Yes, please! Hurry up. Press play!"

He finally pressed play on the remote and the episode finally began playing. Ten minutes in, Bickslow was already addicted and almost tempted to push Lucy off of him so he could go and sit on the floor right in front of the T.V., but he behaved and put up with being a human pillow.

A familiar face appeared in the episode, and Bickslow quickly pressed pause to point to the screen with a still image of the character, and then said to Lucy, "I'm calling it. He's going to die."

Lucy scoffed at him. "What? No he's not. What makes you say that?"

"Because he dies in literally everything he's in." Bickslow wasn't even sure he'd seen anything with that particular actor in it where his character had actually been alive at the end. The dude was just good at dying it seemed. "I bet you, he's dead by the end of the season."

"He won't be," Lucy insisted. "But fine, you're on. You owe me a full day off if he's still alive, though."

Bickslow grinned. "Deal."

Two weeks later, Lucy was left staring at the screen miserably as the ninth episode played. Behind her, Bickslow was cackling and rolling around on the lounge. "I fucking told you!"

Lucy could only scowl as she reached for the pillow she'd been hugging to her chest and leaning on, and threw it back towards his face. "Shut up."

* * *

 _The show was totally Game of Thrones, for those who guessed it. Reviews are always appreciated, too!_


	33. Monopoly King - BixLu

_Prompt: "DO. NOT. BURN. THE. MONEY." for BixLu._

* * *

 **Monopoly King**

Lucy stared down at the Monopoly board covered in the tiny red and green houses. Sitting opposite her, Bickslow was smugly counting his mountain of money before tucking it under the edge of the board to keep it organised. On either side of the board, their two daughters were neatly arranging their properties by colour. Looking down at her own assets, Lucy frowned. She owned next to nothing. Her money pile was just as depressing.

Lucy hated playing Monopoly for one reason only: Bickslow always won. Lucy wasn't even sure how he seemed to always do it. Every time she'd ask how he always managed to bankrupt her and on the verge of flipping the board over, he'd only grin and say, 'It's all about using your money wisely.'

But, the girls liked to play, and no matter how many times Lucy had tried to get herself out of playing Monopoly with them, they'd always manage to drag her out to sit in front of the game board and suffer. Most of the time, it was just because they went and told their dad that she was being stubborn, which would just lead to Bickslow walking in to whatever room she was in, and quite literally carrying her out to their living room to play the stupid game.

And that day was no different.

Still, there was only so many times Lucy could be utterly destroyed by her family. She just could not lose anymore. She couldn't.

"Alright. That's it. No more Monopoly." Quickly, Lucy began to gather up all of the rainbow currency. She was so quick that even Bickslow had a hard time pulling the wads of paper cash back from her hands.

"What? Where are you going with that?" Bickslow demanded. "Come back with my money!"

The girls groaned as Lucy took the rest of the money that was sitting in the box. "Muuuum, come on!"

Bickslow clambered up to follow Lucy into the kitchen. "Lucy, seriously, what the hell are you doing?"

She was too busy searching for a lighter or a box of matches to actually give him an answer. Once she came across a small box of matches in a drawer though, she grinned almost maniacally as she quickly turned towards her husband and said, "Putting an end to your rule."

Bickslow watched in horror as Lucy gathered up the game money and dumped it all into the kitchen sink. "No… You're not going to…" She lit the match, and Bickslow rushed forward to grab her wrist before she could drop the match into the sink. "Don't burn it! What the fuck?!"

"No, it needs to be done!"

"It's… It's illegal to burn money, you know!"

Lucy just made a face at her husband for a moment. "It's not even real money, you moron," she pointed out.

Bickslow knew that. Still, as the supreme banker, it was his job to protect the game currency. And really, he still didn't quite know why Lucy was seemingly want to burn the money anyway. "W-Well, still! You can't burn it!"

"Why not?" The flame was getting dangerously close to her fingertips, and it was beginning to get a little hot.

"Because… Because I'm the banker and I say you can't burn it! It's in the rule book!" he argued.

"No it's not."

" _DO. NOT. BURN. THE. MONEY_."

Lucy gave a small shrug and let the match fall from her fingertips, straight into the metal sink. "Oops," she said sweetly.

It didn't take long for the rainbow currency to go up in flames. Bickslow pushed his wife out of the way to watch it burn. "Nooo!" he cried. "Why would you do such a thing?!"

"Because I'm sick of you sitting there all high and mighty with your mountains of cash all the time," Lucy admitted bitterly, opening up the windows in the kitchen and turning on the exhaust fan to try and clear some of the smoke.

Bickslow turned over his shoulder with an eyebrow raised. "Seriously?" he said. "So you just burnt a whole lot of paper because you're a sore loser? You do know it's just a game, right?"

Lucy scowled at him. "You're the one that was just crying over it."

"I was still in game mode." Bickslow shrugged. It was really just paper. It wasn't like he actually cared. Still… Had Lucy just told him she didn't like to play because she always lost, then he probably wouldn't have made a point of getting her to play every time. But, she'd decided to go and be petty, and it was time to remind her just how annoying he could be. "Anyway," he sighed, pushing off from the counter and letting flames die out in the sink. "You do realise I can just buy more money online, so really, this doesn't achieve anything."

Lucy's mouth quickly open and shut as she watched her husband walk back into their living room and no doubt explain the smoke to their daughters. Admittedly, Lucy hadn't considered the fact that Bickslow would be able to go and buy replacement currency.


	34. Dance of the Wild - BixLu

_Prompt: "How do you find my moves?" for BixLu._

 _Every request I do ends up being completely ridiculous, I swear._

* * *

 **Dance of the Wild**

Lucy's eyes lifted from her novel in her hands when she saw movement in the corner of the room. Looking up, she found her husband of six years leaning with one arm against the doorframe, and with what appeared to be his attempt at a seductive smirk on his lips.

"Yes?" Lucy said. She almost didn't want to know what was going through Bickslow's mind, just because she was sure it would be ridiculous.

Bickslow gave half a shrug as he finally sauntered into the room. "Nothin'," he said lightly.

His trek to his side of the bed was purposefully taking longer than usual, and Lucy watched suspiciously as Bickslow began to move a little more - not faster, though. Just more than necessary. His feet shuffled slightly, his shoulders bopped along with whatever song was playing in his head, and he even stirred his hips slightly. Or at least, that was what Lucy suspected he was _trying_ to do.

He pulled his t-shirt off and spun it around on his finger before letting it fly towards Lucy. He grimaced when it landed right on her head - that hadn't been part of the plan. Thankfully, Lucy's expression seemingly hadn't changed much by the time she removed the (mostly) clean shirt from her head and dropped it onto the floor beside her, so Bickslow's smirk grew wide as he finally, and slowly began to crawl onto the bed with a knee rising to rest on the edge.

"So? How do you find my moves?" he asked.

Lucy snorted. "Seriously?"

"What?" That really wasn't the response he'd been going for. He'd been expecting (and hoping) that Lucy would just grab him and pull him into bed with her. But nope. Apparently not.

"Was that supposed to be dancing?"

"W-Well… Yes… Kind of…" Bickslow mumbled. He'd admit, he was pretty fucking bad at it. But still, he'd thought it was obvious what he was trying to do.

Lucy quickly dissolved into a fit of giggles. She managed to mark her page in her book before she closed it in her laughter, only doubling over as her laughter grew uncontrollable. Bickslow pouted and crossed his arms across his chest as he finally sat in the bed. "You looked like… Like you were trying to do some kind of animal mating dance!" Lucy howled.

Bickslow's face grew warm as his wife teased him. Granted, Lucy had seemingly gotten the gist of his little dance, but he wouldn't have used those exact words. And Lucy just continuing to downright cry with how hard she was laughing at him was just rubbing salt in the wound. "Alright, fine. I get it. I suck at dancing," he mumbled. "No need to keep laughing at me…"

"Aw, I'm sorry," Lucy said softly then as she sat back up, scooting closer to Bickslow's side. It wasn't like she'd meant to laugh at him that much. It was just that… Well, it had been hilarious. "I didn't mean to offend you."

"I know."

"I just had no idea what you were trying to do because you looked so stupid, and I just couldn't help myself."

Bickslow rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks."

Lucy smiled before pressing a quick kiss to his cheek. "I'm sorry for laughing at you," she whispered. "But seriously, don't do that again unless you're actually trying to make me laugh at you."


	35. Snowball - CoLu

_Prompt: "Don't give me that look! You started it!" for CoLu._

 _Having lived in Australia my whole life, I've never seen snow. So, if this is horribly wrong, please forgive me. I've only ever asked a few people what snow is actually like, mostly out of curiosity._

* * *

 **Snowball**

Erik froze in his spot when he felt something cold, wet, and hard hit the back of his head. He shivered as soon as he felt what he quickly realised to be the remnants of a melting snowball sliding down the small gap between his neck and the collar of his coat.

Instantly, Erik regretted the fact he hadn't worn a scarf that morning.

He turned to find Lucy standing a few feet away, an all too mischievous smirk on her lips as she tried to contain her giggling. "Really?" Erik deadpanned.

Lucy gave a small shrug. It had snowed all night, and it was so cold that most of it had yet to melt. Lucy wasn't one to waste an opportunity, either - Erik knew that all too well with how much time they spent together when he did manage to visit Magnolia. But with how much snow had fallen, Lucy would've been stupid to not take her chance and throw some of it at the grumpy Dragon Slayer.

"What else is snow good for?" Lucy asked sweetly.

Erik crouched down to begin piling some of the hard snow into his gloved hands. "Melting," he mumbled. "Piling into someone's mailbox… Shoving down someone's"–mostly Jellal's–"pants…"

"Well, yes… But–wait, what are you doing?" Lucy's eyes went wide when she saw Erik now heading straight for her, boots crunching in the snow as he tossed the rounded ball between his hands. A menacing grin was set on his face and it took Lucy all of a few seconds to realise that he planned on getting her back. "Erik, no!"

Lucy didn't get to run very far before Erik caught her, a hand around her arm before it went around her waist and he pulled her towards him, and then he was dumping the snowball right on top of Lucy's head.

"Nooo! It's cold!" Lucy squealed. Erik had forgotten his scarf, but Lucy had forgotten her beanie and now her head was freezing as snow was melting in her hair as she quickly tried shaking it off.

Erik watched in amusement as his girlfriend rid her hair of the snow. "That's what you get for throwing one at me." Like he would've let her get away with that. Hell no. It had somehow managed to melt all the way down his back and straight into his underwear, and it wasn't pleasant in the slightest.

Once Lucy had finished picking most of the snow out, she simply huffed in frustration and stomped past him in the deep snow, shoving his arm as she did so.

The scowl on her face only had Erik rolling his eye as he caught up to her again. "Oh, don't give me that look!" he groaned. "You started it!" He knew that Lucy was competitive in some areas, but now she was just being a sore loser, and it hadn't even been a competition at all.

"It was cold," Lucy pouted.

"Funny that."

Really, it wasn't like Lucy was upset. She was mostly just surprised he'd even made a point of getting her back. Erik usually just brushed silly things like that off…

Still, he hadn't that time, which had Lucy wondering just what she could get away with. Erik had his better days, as far as his tolerance went. Maybe that day was one of them.

Her pout turning to a small smile, Lucy stopped again to pick up some more snow. Erik barely noticed it until Lucy was throwing another smaller snowball at him, right at his ear that time. He could shake his head as Lucy ran off ahead laughing at him.


	36. Monsters and Men - BixLu

_This is part of my upcoming Pirate AU. You have no idea how excited I am to start writing this AU. For now, I will continue working on the chapter plans and finishing off other stories._

 _Prompt: 'Fog' + BixLu_

* * *

**Monsters and Men**

Lucy could hear the waves crashing against the hull, but if she looked down over the port side of the ship, she couldn't see anything past the thick fog that covered the water. If she looked up, Lucy could only just make out the masts and the rigging that supported the blood red sails.

Most of the crew were still asleep with the sun having only just begun to rise over the horizon. It wouldn't be long before they were all up and on deck, and the rigging crew would be sent up to release the sails to catch what little wind there was that morning.

She heard the heavy footsteps behind her and glanced back to see the captain. Bickslow watched her for just a moment before he broke the somehow still silence. "We'll make port before the end of the day," he said. "The fog should clear once the sun is up and we'll be on our way."

Lucy only gave a small nod.

She'd only spent a week on the ship, but it had hadn't even taken her that long to begin to question all the stories her father had told her. She'd grown up with tales of monsters. Monsters that claimed the seas as theirs and took anything and everything they wanted with no concern for others. Monsters that thrived on the blood of the men they'd slain.

And while some of those tales may end up being very well true, Lucy couldn't help but wonder just where the line between the myths and the truth laid.

A week earlier, she'd been pulled from the sea by those monsters, and been given safe haven and the promise of returning home - although Lucy wasn't entirely sure where home was anymore, since her father and everyone else on the royal navy ship had been lost to the seas in the storm that had almost claimed her as well. Still, the men she'd spent the last week with, just hadn't seemed like monsters to her. They hadn't seemed like the bloodthirsty savages that her father and everyone else had told her about.

They'd just seemed like men.

And as Lucy stared down at the thick layer of fog above the waves, she could only wonder if the captain that stood beside her was truly as fearsome as the tales had led her to believe.


	37. Autumn Chill - BixLu

_Prompt: "Scarves" + BixLu_

* * *

 **Autumn Chill**

Autumn in Magnolia was always cold, and Bickslow hated it. He didn't deal well with the cold, which was why he was always wearing so many layers.

With his alarm quickly beginning to give him a headache, he reached out to turn it off, bringing silence to his room once more. If only he could spend the morning tucked up in bed where it was warm. Unfortunately, work called, and Bickslow liked having a job and being able to pay his gas bill.

It didn't take him long to get ready, and before seven-thirty hit, he was finding his house keys to be on his way out. He locked the door, and when he turned around, he wasn't the least bit surprised to find his neighbour Lucy standing at the bottom of the path and waiting for him. She was there every morning, waiting so that they could walk to the train station together and head into the city for work. Sometimes she brought him breakfast that he could eat on the way, and other times it was just coffee. That morning though, it was food.

He rushed down the steps and the path to meet her, and ducked down to press a gentle kiss to her lips. Her nose was cold as it bumped against his but her lips were warm.

"God, it's so cold this morning," he said, his warm breath turning to fog before him. "It feels like it's winter."

"It is a little chilly this morning," Lucy agreed. She handed him the small paper bag with the alfoil-wrapped breakfast wrap before they could be on their way, then said, "Which is why I thought you'd want something warm for breakfast."

It had bacon and sausage and egg and Bickslow was remembering why he loved her so much. "You are totally my favourite person ever."

"I know," she giggled. "Oh! I almost forgot." Bickslow was already digging into the warm wrap when Lucy stopped to reach into her purse and pull out the old, faded and stretched scarf that Bickslow had been looking for all morning. "You left it at my house the other night, and I figured you'd want it this morning because it's cold."

Bickslow only ducked his head slightly just so Lucy could lift the scarf over him and wrap it around his neck, securing it with a loose knot. It smelled faintly of lavender when he lifted it up slightly just to bury his nose in it, and he smiled softly as the familiar fabric began to make him itch like it usually did.


	38. Choices - CanaJane

_~friendly reminder that these kinds of prompt + pairing requests are always open, and that i have a whole lot of prompt lists tagged on my tumblr as such (i.e, prompts)~_

 _Prompt: "Fine" for Canajane._

* * *

 **Choices**

"I'm so excited for Christmas this year." Mira's smile was full of warmth as she set down the clean plate and reached for the next one. "I've gotten everyone's presents wrapped already, and I've even made my grocery list for Christmas dinner. Oh, it's going to wonderful, Cana!"

Cana couldn't help but smile back. "I'm sure it will be," she said. She didn't doubt it anyway, because she'd spent the holidays with the Strauss siblings before.

"You're going to be there for dinner, right?" Mira asked. She hoped Cana would be, just because it would be the first Christmas where they would be _together_ , and it was different from every other year.

"Uh, maybe."

"What? What do you mean maybe?"

Cana gave a small shrug as she traced her finger around the edge of her wine glass. "I don't know how long I'll stay at the orphanage with the kids this year, so I don't know if I'll make dinner," she answered. She visited the orphanage every year, but that year they were supposed to be putting on a little play to help keep their spirits high and Cana didn't want to miss it.

"Oh. I see." Mira turned back around and continued to quietly continue drying the dishes with the teatowel. She was trying not to sound disappointed, just because she knew how Cana always made a point of spending at least a few hours of every Christmas with the children at the orphanage, but… She just thought it would've been nice to have her around for dinner that year. "Fine."

Cana grimaced. She knew Mira was upset with her now and it hurt. She got up from the table to cross to where Mira stood at the sink, gently laying a hand on Mira's shoulder. "I'm sorry…" Cana whispered. "I'll… I'll try and make it back for dinner if it means so much." She couldn't make any promises - she _wouldn't_ make any either - but she could at least try. It wasn't like Cana didn't want to have Christmas dinner with Mira and her siblings just like every other year, because she did. Cana just didn't like having to choose between her girlfriend and the children, though.

Mira shook her head and gave the Card mage a small smile. "No no, it's okay." She set the towel aside to clasp Cana's free hand and give a gentle squeeze, turning to face her. "I know how much that place means to you. You shouldn't have to worry about me. The kids need you more than I do." She at least had her siblings, but the kids at the orphanage? They only had people like Cana, and brightening the days of the children without their own families was far more important than Mira getting to hold her girlfriend's hand underneath the table.


	39. A New Friend - Raijinshuu

_Prompt: "We're not going to steal someone's dog." + something involving Bickslow._

 _Edit: In response to a guest review on Chapter 7 that read, "What's with the weird pairings?" Honestly, I thought the answer was pretty fucking simple. It's because I like them. Really, it's not hard._

* * *

 **A New Friend**

"He's miserable!" Bickslow shouted over the whining of the neighbour's dog. "Listen to him!"

"It's hard _not_ to listen to him…" Evergreen mumbled.

Ever since they'd all moved into that house together a few months earlier, they'd had to put up with their neighbour's dog howling and whining almost the entire day. The owner of the dog, as they had all quickly come to realise, was a Grade A asshole. His yard looked like a junkyard for starters, and on more than one occasion, Bickslow had actually seen the man kick the white labrador hard enough that he'd yelped and limped afterwards. They'd lived there long enough to know that he was forced to stay outside all the time as well, and for the most part, Bickslow was surprised he hadn't actually frozen to death after the winter they'd just had.

Still, Bickslow hated it. He hated having to listen to his neighbour's dog whine all the time. He hated knowing that his neighbour was neglecting the animal and hurting him. Bickslow had half a mind to hurt the pathetic excuse for a man that called himself the dog's owner, but alas, he wasn't that kind of person anymore, no matter how tempting and fair it would be.

"It's horrible…" he said softly, sinking into the lounge as the howling grew louder.

"I know it is," Freed said. "But there's nothing we can do about it." They'd already tried talking to the council about it to see if they could get the dog taken off him, but since it wasn't a stray animal, there really was nothing they could do either.

"Why can't we just… I don't know… Break the fence a little bit so he can be free?"

"Because then he'll be a stray and the council will catch him a put him down," Evergreen pointed out.

"You don't exactly want that, do you, Bickslow?" Freed asked.

Bickslow shook his head. "No…" he mumbled. He was inclined to think it would still be better than being abused and neglected, but he still didn't want him to be put down. "Well… Well, can we just take him and give him to someone else?"

"Are you suggesting stealing him?"

"Yes."

"Bicks, we are not going to steal someone's dog," Freed insisted. That was just obsurd.

"But he's miserable! We have to steal him!"

"It doesn't matter if he's miserable. It's theft. Plain and simple."

Bickslow pouted, crossing his arms across his chest. "I don't care," he muttered. "I'm stealing him."

Evergreen rolled her eyes and turned to retreat down the hall where her brother's insanity couldn't reach. "Well, good luck with that," she mumbled on her way.

Freed, on the other hand, only proceeded to offer Bickslow some kind of advice. He knew Bickslow all too well, and when he was set on something, there was no talking him out of it. If he was going to steal a dog, then he might as well do it somewhat right.

* * *

Evergreen slowly descended the stairs as she rubbed at her eyes, hand sliding along the railing so she didn't fall. According to her clock in her room, it was a quarter past two in the morning, but someone was making an awful racket downstairs and it was interrupting her sleep.

"What on earth are you–" She rounded the corner into their living room to find Bickslow sitting on the floor with the neighbour's white labrador trying to climb over his lap and lick his face. "Are you fucking kidding me right now? You actually stole his dog?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Freed sighed.

"She's so happy now!" Bickslow laughed while being attacked by the furry friend. "All she wanted was a bit of love!" Originally, Bickslow had thought that the neighbour's dog was a boy, but she just so happened to be a girl dog instead.

Still, he had been just a little scared when he'd jumped over the fence to rescue the dog. Knowing that the owner had neglected her, Bickslow had half expected to be bitten, but thankfully, he hadn't. He'd gone armed with treats, and once she'd realised that he was a friend and not someone to hurt her, she'd slowly come out of her cold kennel with her tail between her legs to gentle take the treat from Bickslow's hand. After that, it had been a little difficult getting her over the fence and into their own yard, but... They'd managed. Somehow.

Evergreen shook her head. "So what now?" she asked. "Are you going to find someone to adopt her?"

"Maybe..." He shrugged a little. "I might just keep her, actually. She's so nice, Ever! Look at her! Look at that widdle face!"

She watched as Bickslow took the dog's head and held it to show her. It didn't last long before the dog escaped from his grasp and just collapsed down on top of his lap. Sure, the dog was cute, but Evergreen was tired. "Great. But you can't actually be serious, right?"

"Oh, he's serious," Freed chimed in.

"How on earth are you going to have a pet? You do remember that we're mages, right? We take jobs that can last weeks. Who's going to look after her then? And does she even have a name?"

Bickslow frowned for a second. He hadn't considered that. "W-Well... Lucy might look after her!"

"Do you really think your girlfriend will want to look after a dog you stole?"

"Eh, don't be pedantic. I'm sure it will be fine." She'd been dropping all kinds of hints lately anyway...

Evergreen refrained from going upstairs to fetch her fan. Sometimes, it just wasn't worth arguing with Bickslow. "Well, you still didn't say if she has a name or not. I'm assuming you don't know the name her owner gave her," she said.

Bickslow shook his head. "Nope." He'd never once heard the owner call the dog anything other than 'useless mutt' and he really hoped that she hadn't assumed that was her name. Still, she needed a _good_ name. "What about Snow? Her coat is white, after all."

After a moment, Freed shrugged, his version of agreeing without words, and Evergreen nodded. "I like it," she said.

"What about you, huh?" Bickslow looked back down to the heavy creature sprawled across his lap in a way that just had to be uncomfortable and rubbed her belly. "Do you like Snow?" The dog only sat up quickly to lick Bickslow's face again. He took it as a yes.


	40. Unfortunately - BixLu

_Prompt: "Unfortunately, today is not that day." "Unfortunately for us, you mean. Not you." for clueless BixLu (although I clearly ignored the 'clueless' part, since by the time that I actually got around to writing this, the requester couldn't remember what they'd been thinking when they sent it)._

* * *

 **Unfortunately**

"Tell me again why we decided to have a kid?" Bickslow asked as soon as he'd made it into his bedroom. He loved his spawn dearly, but sometimes, he also fucking hated her. She was a nightmare and she was the devil and apparently the devil never slept. Ever.

Lucy merely glanced up from her phone as she finished setting the alarm for the morning. "Well, technically, we didn't just _decide_ to have her," she pointed out.

Bickslow rolled his eyes as he walked around the side of the bed to finally get comfortable. It was way past his bedtime. "Right. How could I forget?" he mumbled. There'd been no active deciding on the topic. They'd mostly just gone with it, and lo and behold, they'd welcomed the tiny devil into the world a few months down the track. Although really, it wasn't like it had been all bad. She was still the devil but she was _his_ devil and damn it, he loved that. "Anyway, she's asleep for now. I'm not getting up when she's awake in an hour."

"Don't worry. I'll do it tonight." It was only fair. "Anyway though, Dad's in town this week."

"Are you kidding me?"

"He gets in tomorrow. He called me last week, said he wanted to stop by for dinner. So he's coming for dinner on Wednesday."

Bickslow could only gawk at the mother of the little demon. He loved his girlfriend dearly as well, but sometimes he really fucking hated her as well. The Heartfilia women were all horrible monsters. He was sure of it. "And... You just thought you'd tell me this _now_?"

Lucy shrugged. "Slipped my mind. Sorry."

"Slipped your mind," Bickslow repeated. Oh, how he believed that. He really did. "Right."

"It'll be fine," she sighed, slipping down under the covers to get comfortable with her head on the pillow. "He'll be here for a couple of hours at most, and then he'll be on his way and we can go back to pretending he doesn't exist."

"Yeah. Sure. That's totally what will happen."

"Why wouldn't it?"

"Oh, I don't know... Maybe he might want to stay once he finds out he has a fucking _grandkid_."

Okay, so, admittedly, Lucy hadn't considered that. She was a firm believer in postpartum baby brain. Still, she shrugged Bickslow's concerns off since she didn't think they were important anyway. Most of the things he worried about those days weren't actually important. "Like I said, it'll be fine," she insisted. "He's made it quite clear he doesn't have time for me anymore, so he won't have time for Lillith either. You don't have anything to worry about."

Except Bickslow was sure he did. "I have plenty to worry about, thank you!" He twisted his fingers together over his chest as he stared up at the ceiling, brows furrowing as he went through all the things he had to worry about in his head. "I mean, we both know that he's hated me since he met me."

"That's not true."

"It is. And you know what he said to me when we moved in together?"

"What?"

" _Don't even think about getting her knocked up unless you've put a ring on it_ ," he said in a voice that didn't at all sound like Jude. And, granted, he'd said it like three years earlier, but to that day, Bickslow was terrified of the man. And now that he _had_ gone and done it (albeit without actually thinking), Bickslow was most definitely considering running for the hills.

Lucy could only sigh as she switched off the bedside lamp. "Seriously, it's fine. Just forget about it, Bix. Like he actually cares."

"Well, I care! And, really, none of this would be a problem if you'd just agree to it already."

Technically, Bickslow had been trying to propose for a year, and technically, Lucy had been saying no for a year. "I will one day. You know that," she said. "Unfortunately, today is not that day." One day. That was all she could promise.

Bickslow rolled his eyes. "Unfortunately for _us_ , you mean," he mumbled.

"Why? Why does it matter if we decide to get married now, or ten years from now?

"Well, for starters, Jude won't want to put me in an early grave," Bickslow said. "Secondly, I'm pretty sure you're only saying no to fuck with me at this point. And thirdly, your asshole father will be more likely to put Lillith in his will if we're married." He'd be more likely to put Lucy back in it if they were married, but really, at that point, Bickslow only cared about what his kid deserved.

Lucy could see the logic in that. But... "My answer is still no. At least for today. Now go to sleep before the demon wakes you up again."


	41. Bad Timing - BixLu

_Prompt: C - "Can't you see I'm a little busy right now?"_

 _This took me like 700 years to write. I'm not sure why it did. Anyway, it's set in my knight/princess AU that I took down last year. One day I'll return to it and expand on this little scene._

 **TW** : Blood, gore. I don't know. Just in case. Although it really isn't anything at all.

* * *

 **Bad Timing**

When Bickslow had told her to run, she hadn't been able to do it. Had it been two months earlier, then she probably would've done it with just a moment of hesitation. Now though, she couldn't leave him to die fighting to protect her. She cared too much to do that. Plus, he was probably the worst knight she'd ever met, and to that day, she still had no idea how he'd been part of Seven's elite guard at one point.

An arrow flew right past his face from behind him and straight into the chest of one of the bandits. Bickslow hadn't even needed to turn around to know who'd shot the thing. "I thought I told you to fucking go." He ducked just as another lunged for him, dodging the blow and twisting the blade in his hand to plunge it into his stomach.

"I know!" Lucy shouted, drawing another arrow into the bow and aiming it carefully. She couldn't risk hitting Bickslow, and it was a miracle she'd missed him before. But with how much he and the others were moving, she almost didn't want to shoot it, but it was the only thing she could do to actually help; it was the only thing Bickslow had been willing to teach her. "But I just… I couldn't leave you alone!"

Bickslow pulled the knife out and spun to face Lucy perched on a rock behind him. She was already drawing another arrow, too busy to notice the bearded man sneaking up behind her in the snow.

"Move! Now!"

She tripped over her own feet as she turned and was yanked back up by the back of her shirt. She screamed and kicked at him, trying to get herself free. Her feet hitting his shins didn't seem to deter him, though. "Now, now. You'll fetch a pretty penny, won't you?"

The taste of bile filled her mouth as she struggled. The situation felt all too familiar, and having it happen once was more than enough. "L-Let go…"

Her knight came to help before she could even try and get herself out of it. Bickslow dealt with him quicker than she could, stabbing his leg just so he couldn't chase after them - or at least not very quickly.

The remaining two picked themselves up to set their sights back on Bickslow. He growled under his breath, stepping to the side purposefully to put himself between them and Lucy. "I _told_ you to get the fuck out of here," he said once more, quickly glancing back as Lucy picked herself back up and readied the bow he'd given her. He briefly wondered why the others were taking so long to attack; he didn't have all day and they both knew he only had the one short blade left anyway. "Why the fuck did you come back?"

Hadn't she already answered that? "I told you! I couldn't leave you alone!"

"I can handle myself, _Princess_. Now _move_." He didn't give her the chance to do so herself before he shoved her out of the way. It was for her own benefit anyway, and he'd already known that the only thing she would've fallen on if he'd pushed her just hard enough was a bed of snow and leaves. But with Lucy out of the way, it gave him the room to move.

The thieves were predictable - and dumb, too, as Bickslow had quickly realised. Launching themselves at him together, all Bickslow needed to do was duck at the right time to avoid them. Swinging his leg, he tripped one of them over and stuck the short blade into the back of the other's thigh. He screamed in agony, falling to his knees and trying to clutch the wound.

Lucy picked herself back up again, not bothering to dust the snow from her legs or her hair. She could barely hear anything over the sound of the blood rushing in her ears as she stared at her knight, his back to her as he collected one of his daggers from one of the bodies beside him. "I… I need to tell you something!" Lucy heard herself shout.

Bickslow didn't even bother sparing her a glance, but she could still see the scowl through the look of focus as he continued to stare at the last bandit. "Can't you see I'm a little busy right now?" he snapped. As much as he'd taught Lucy on her way back to Fiore, she was still the naive princess he'd had hanging upside down from a tree at one point. And right then, she was just being fucking stupid.

She tried not to jump when they both ran at each other, the other shouting as he ran over his fallen comrades without a care in the world. Right then, Lucy just didn't know if Bickslow was going to be able protect her like he'd promised to do. He'd already killed two, injured three, and the one he was fighting then only had a few scratches on him. Bickslow's blade just barely scraped across his face, leaving a deep gash that bled steadily and soaked his collar. But he was against a sword, one that he was only barely stopping with the metal cuffs on his arms. Perhaps for the first time, Bickslow wouldn't win, and while that was a possibility, Lucy couldn't help herself from taking a single step forward and shouting, "I love you!" She wasn't entirely sure why she did, but she really couldn't let her stupid knight die without her saying it to him.

Bickslow finally looked at her, right as a single arrow was let loose from behind her and flew true until it hit Bickslow's shoulder. Lucy could only quickly turn around, seeing the same man Bickslow had knocked out just a moment earlier running straight into the woods. She didn't give herself the chance to think before she picked her fallen bow pack up and drew an arrow, aiming it straight for the burly man stepping away from her knight, hitting her mark perfectly and drawing another bow just to deal with the screaming man on the ground still clutching the back of his thigh.

Just a month earlier, she'd refused to shoot a rabbit just so she wouldn't starve. Now, she'd killed three men twice her size within a matter of minutes.

She dropped the bow again as Bickslow finally fell to his knees on the pink snow, dropping his blade and holding the arrow sticking out of his shoulder. He knew it was poisoned. He could feel it already. He fell back down onto his back just as Lucy reached him, quickly removing his visor and throwing it behind her as she pushed his hand away from the arrow.

"Shit… You have… the worst fucking timing…" Bickslow said slowly, struggling just to get enough air into his lungs.

"God, I know, I'm… I'm sorry," Lucy spluttered. She tried pulling on the arrow and Bickslow groaned. She didn't think it had gone straight through, which made getting it out even more difficult. "I just… I thought you were going to die, and I couldn't… I needed you to—"

"I know."

"—know, and now I'm the reason you got hit—"

"Lucy, shut up…" Bickslow groaned.

"—with the arrow at all and—"

Bickslow really didn't know what else to do other than reach up to grab the collar of Lucy's coat, pulling her down far enough so he could crane his neck and press his lips to hers, fighting to ignore the burning pain that came from moving. Still though, as horrible as the circumstances had been, he had kind of wanted to kiss her, so he considered it a win. "The arrow… was coated in poison…" he managed to get out quietly, with Lucy just staring at him with red cheeks and wide eyes. "And I really, really… need you to get it out." He wasn't quite fond of dying that day.

"P-Poison?" Lucy whimpered.

Bickslow shook his head. He probably had an antidote for it in his pack. It was probably the only good thing to come from his friendship with the grumpy with the poisons master. "Just get it out. I'll be… fine." Assuming Lucy helped him within the next thirty seconds, anyway.

Lucy nodded and looked to the arrow, reaching up quickly to dry her eyes for a moment. "It… It will hurt," she whispered. "I don't want to—"

"Just fucking do it already."

So she did, wincing as she pushed the fabric out of the way as best she could to dig her fingers into the wound, doing her best to widen it just so the arrowhead wouldn't get stuck. Her knight's scream of agony echoed throughout the forest.


	42. Congratu-oh - Luvia

**Prompt:** Luvia + Congratulations! One of your dreams has finally come true. Let me give you a big hug and wow, you're warm…

* * *

 **Congratu-oh...**

In all the years Juvia had known Lucy, there'd been just a handful of times where Lucy had run into the guild screaming about something. Most of the time, as far as Juvia knew, it was because Lucy was on a witch hunt. Either it was Natsu burning something in her apartment and getting her in trouble with her landlady, or he'd drawn on her when she'd been asleep, or he'd just decided to pull some kind of moronic prank on her with the assistance of his blue Exceed.

Most of the time, no one thought anyone of it when Lucy burst through the guild doors screaming about something, and everyone usually just shook their heads and silently wondered just how long it would be before she literally murdered her pink-haired friend.

That day, though, it was different, and Juvia noticed it as soon as the doors flew open and the sunshine was let in. That day, Lucy wasn't screaming about finding Natsu, or anyone else. But, she was squealing and just about jumping up and down, and she wore the biggest smile Juvia had ever seen her with - well, at least recently.

"Lucy seems rather jubilant this morning," Juvia stated as Lucy made her way over to the group.

Gray merely looked up with a shrug, but Erza agreed and watched her friend bounce all the way over to them. "Indeed she does."

"Morning, everyone!" Lucy said enthusiastically, almost jittering as she tried to keep herself still.

"Good morning, Lucy. You seem rather excited today."

Lucy nodded quickly. "I am! I have some news!" For a moment, Juvia wondered if it was because the Celestial mage had actually succeeded in ending Natsu's lives. "My book is being published!" Lucy announced, almost letting out a relieved sigh afterwards. She hadn't had the chance to tell anyone yet, and she'd been so excited about being a published author that she'd barely slept the night before. She almost wished Natsu was there as well, because she knew he'd be happy for her, but he was mysteriously absent.

"Good job," Gray said.

"Yes, that's wonderful news, Lucy," Erza added.

It took Juvia a moment to process it, since she'd completely been expecting Lucy to say something else, but once she realised what Lucy had actually said, she couldn't keep her own smile off her face and she got up from the bench quickly, throwing her arms up in the air before she reached Lucy and pulled her in to a tight hug. She remembered Lucy telling her once that her one dream in life was to become a published author, and now here she was, finally getting to live it. "Congratulations! Juvia is so proud of you!"

For a moment, Lucy just squealed along with her friend and relished in finally getting to share her excitement with someone else. "I'm so happy! Oh, I never thought it'd happen!"

"Juvia thinks you deserve it." She squeezed Lucy in her arms quickly before leaning back and giving her a warm smile. "Juvia is so very happy for you, too," she added softly. She wrapped her arms back around Lucy then, only squealing and trying not to jump up and down with her until she found herself letting out a contended sigh. _Lucy is so warm_ … Juvia supposed it was because she'd just been out in the sun that had been hiding behind rain clouds for the last week, but still… Juvia almost didn't want to stop hugging her. "Lucy is so warm…" Juvia whispered.

She _was_ feeling a little warm, but Lucy supposed that had a lot to do with the woman clinging to her. "A-Am I?" Her face was feeling rather hot all of a sudden, too…

Juvia quickly pulled herself away, eyes a little wide and her cheeks feeling just as warm. "N-No, not at all!" she squeaked.

"Oh…"

"Juvia must…" She scanned the room, lacing her fingers together, before deciding that outside was a much better place to be. "Juvia must go now!"

Lucy watched on in mild confusion as the woman scurried out of the hall. She didn't quite know what to think of it.


	43. Lightheaded - BixCo

So. I woke up to a guest review this morning on Chapter 19 or something (Newlyweds - BixCo, I believe) of this collection. It was something along the lines of, _"You shouldn't dump your shitty stories here."_ Well, that was exactly what it said. Anyway, this is why I moderate the guest reviews. Also, I will continue to post my shitty stories here because I feel like it.

But whatever. I'm sure it made them feel good to put someone else down. Anyway, have some shitty BixCo everyone else, because I felt like it (and it's been sitting in my inbox for like four months).

 **Prompt** : "You fainted…straight into my arms. You know, if you wanted my attention you didn't have to go to such extremes."

* * *

 **Lightheaded**

Whenever Freed started talking about runes, Bickslow usually tuned out. So when Laxus told Freed about the Jutsu Shiki he'd cast, and Freed turned into a proud, doting parent, Bickslow rolled his eyes and began to focus on something else. Evergreen straight up just walked away, muttering nerds under her breath.

He paid attention to the babies, only patting one of them under his cloak as he kept his ears open to see if there was something else more mildly interesting going on. The poor souls were a little worse for wear, but they'd been through worse. A little bit of rest and they'd be completely fine, along with everyone else.

"I can't tell if I'm going to pass out or vomit on you…"

Bickslow looked up and over his shoulder, seeing the majority of Crime Sorcière gathered just behind him. He hadn't even known they were there until that moment, but like every other time their respective teams and guilds had run into each other in Fiore, Bickslow was kind of glad to see them. He liked messing with Cobra. And Meredy was a good pranking partner. Of course though, they'd always been sworn to secrecy by the Mystogan-looking-dude (Bickslow could never remember his name for some reason), so no one but them knew about their occasional run-ins in the forests.

He guessed that it had been Cobra saying he was going to pass out or vomit on one of them, at least by the voice, but then Cobra began to waver slightly and stagger slightly. Bickslow moved just in time to slide down onto his knees and catch him, just so he didn't hit his head on the pavement. Judging by the confused expressions on the rest of their faces, Bickslow figured it was safe to assume that Sorano and Macbeth hadn't had any intentions of catching him.

He let Cobra down gently onto the floor after a moment, right as he seemed to become conscious again. Opening his eye, Cobra was sure he'd died and gone to hell, because by under no circumstances would Fairy Tail's stupid Seith mage be the first thing he had to see in heaven - or the real world, for that matter.

"You good?" Bickslow asked. Sorano crouched down on Cobra's other side, looking mildly worried for a first.

"What happened?" Cobra wondered. He didn't exactly want to ask, but he kind of wanted to know what the fuck had happened to have him on the ground in the middle of the street.

"You fainted," Bickslow answered. He couldn't help the way the corners of his mouth lifted into a wide grin. "Straight into my arms. You know, if you wanted my attention, you didn't have to go to such extremes."

Cobra groaned and tried sitting up. "Oh, fuck off."

"Aw, that's not a very nice way to treat someone who just stopped you from hitting your head on the concrete."

"I wish I did." If that was the real world, then hell would most definitely be a better option. Macbeth and Sorano helped him to his feet, holding him steady for good measure. Cobra nervously glanced between the rest of his guild and the still grinning Seith mage, mumbling then, "But… Thank you, I guess…" Maybe hitting his head wouldn't have been a better alternative. Meredy and Richard had been getting on his case about using his manners more anyway.


	44. Adopted - BixLu

This was completely spur of the moment. I was supposed to be finishing off a LeLu commission tonight, but I was on tumblr and saw this post by otpprompts on my dash, and I decided I really needed to write it. I briefly considered doing a BixCo version that would tie in to the Galu/Bixco AU, but... I liked this better. I'll still write the BixCo version at some point.

 **Prompt** : Imagine your OTP telling their child that they're adopted.

* * *

 **Adopted**

"There's something we've been meaning to tell you…" Bickslow said, his voice gentle and calm as he moved one of the pillows on the couch out of the way and sat down next to his daughter.

India glanced up over the top of the book at him. She knew her father well, and when it came to bad news, it was usually her mother who delivered it. If it was one thing she did know about him, it was that he was soft and he would much rather lie than tell anyone bad news. Well, anyone apart from her uncles and aunt. Bickslow usually told them bad news just for the sake of it, as far as India knew.

Still, it sounded like he had some bad news to share, and India really wasn't sure what it would be. She was always cautious when it came to believing anything her dad said, because, well… He was her dad, and he was kind of a moron sometimes.

"And, you know, you're officially thirteen now so you're probably old enough to hear it," he continued.

"Bix, what on earth are you doing now?" Lucy sighed, drying her hands on a small towel. Her husband was up to no good. She was certain of it.

Her mother's eye-roll only made India even more hesitant to believe whatever her father was about to say, but just to go along with him, she closed her book and crossed her legs under her. "Come on, just tell me what it is," India said.

Bickslow took a steeling breath before he looked his daughter dead in the eyes and announced, "You're adopted."

India snorted, quickly picking up her book again. "Yeah, right." Lucy only shook her head and walked away - she wanted _nothing_ to do with whatever Bickslow was doing.

"I'm serious, Ind. Your mum and me… We wanted to have a baby so bad! But, well… It just wasn't happening. So we decided to adopt one instead, and the _second_ we saw you, we knew you were going to be our kid." India continued to stare at him with a bored expression, and Bickslow let out a quiet sigh before continuing again, "And, okay, I get it, you don't believe me, because we have the same magic and the same hair, and you look so much like your mum that it's not even funny, but… I'm being serious here, Ind. And I just thought it was time you found out, because you're getting older and–"

"Mum!" India shouted, keeping a steady eye on her father's face. He was somewhat convincing - he had a brilliant poker face, it seemed - but she wasn't quite sure. "I'm not adopted, right?"

"Of course not! I went through twenty-six hours of hell for you!" Lucy called back from her study in the next room. "How many times have I told you not to listen to your father?"

India shook her head and Bickslow's face quickly split into a wide grin. He'd had her for a second, he knew, but that was so much more than he'd expected. His daughter had definitely gotten her mother's smarts. He was still trying to figure out how to trick Lucy after all those years. She saw right through him.

"Come 'ere, you." He wrapped his arms around the girl and squeezed her in a tight hug. "I'm just kidding."

"Well, duh…"

"I watched your mother have you. I _know_ you're all mine."

India groaned. "Ugh, Dad, gross."

Bickslow couldn't help but chuckle as he kissed the top of her head. "You're too much like your mother to be adopted anyway," he said softly. "Happy birthday, kiddo."


	45. Accomplice - BixLu

_I originally posted this from my phone while I was out at appointments and waiting around, so the formatting was a little off. It should be good now._

 _Anyway, this is a follow up to **Chapter 39 - A New Friend**. This'll make a little more sense having read that first. But alas, I hope you enjoy! Reviews are always appreciated. _

* * *

**Accomplice**

When Bickslow said he'd gotten a dog, Lucy had thought it was a joke. When Bickslow had said it was his neighbour's dog that he'd stolen in the middle of the night in the dead of winter, Lucy had thought there was no way he could be serious and had laughed at him on the Lacrima for ten minutes.

But then he'd shown up at her apartment half an hour later with a fluffy and giant white Labrador bundled in his arms and said, "This is Snow!"

It was a good thing it had been the middle of the night. If her landlady had been awake, she might've been evicted right on the spot just for letting Bickslow and a dog in the hallway. Her landlady wasn't that fond of people or creatures, and Bickslow was neither according to her. Still, with how cold it had been inside, Lucy hadn't just been able to leave her boyfriend and new pet out on the street or in the annoyingly cold hallway, so she quickly ushered them inside and locked the door after them.

Bickslow was already grabbing the blanket off Lucy's bed to wrap around his shoulders and the happy dog that was shaking out its fur. Lucy scowled. _I'm going to need to wash that now. Thanks a lot._

She could see the dog wagging its tail under the blanket. Bickslow seemed to be keeping it in place on his lap, mostly because the second he let her go, she was going to run straight for Lucy and probably lick her to death - Bickslow didn't blame her for that.

"Why on earthland do you have a dog now?" Lucy asked in a hushed tone. "And where did you get a dog in the middle of the night?"

"She's my neighbour's dog. Well, she's my dog now. I stole her."

"Ex-Excuse me? You stole a dog?"

Bickslow nodded. "Yes. I thought I told you that."

"You did, but I didn't think you were bloody serious about it..." Lucy shook her head and crouched down in front of them, mouth in a tight line as she stared at Snow. She leans back just enough so the canine didn't lick her face. God, dog breath is disgusting. Sighing, Lucy asked, "So why did you steal your neighbour's dog?"

"Because she was miserable, Cosplayer!" He rubbed Snow's ears as he looked down at her with a frown. "You've heard her before."

And that she had. She'd stopped staying over at Bickslow's at night just because she couldn't stand listening to the neighbour's dog whining. It had been heartbreaking.

Still, her first thought hadn't been to steal the damn animal, as cute as that animal turned out to be.

"You can't just steal a dog, Bicks," she whispered. "You have to give her back. Her owner—"

"Her owner can rot in hell and I doubt he'll even know she's gone."

"I'm sure that's not true."

"It is true. I'm not giving her back. She's mine." He flung the blanket over them back onto the ground behind him before scooping Snow up into his arms again. It seems he had made a mistake going to Lucy. "I came here to ask if I could lie low here for the night, but clearly that was a stupid decision," he huffed, climbing over Lucy's bed to head for the window. "I'll go find someone else who loves me and ask _them_ for help."

Lucy rolled her eyes as he watched him try and open the window without setting Snow down. As if Bickslow was going to find someone else to put up with his weirdness. She didn't want a dog in her apartment, nor did she want to be an accomplice in his little crime, but she didn't really want Bickslow getting in trouble either.

She had half the mind to tell him to use the door like a normal person for a change (sometimes Lucy was sure she was only person who used her door), but instead she went and locked the window before he could actually get it open and said, "Just make sure she doesn't make too much noise."

* * *

Three days later, Bickslow was back home packing up his things to get ready to move out when there was an impatient knock on his door. Everyone else was at the guild, so with a groan, Bickslow taped up the next box and left his room. "I'm comin', I'm comin'," he shouted down the stairs when the person banged on the door again. He opened the door to find his asshat neighbour wearing his usual stained clothes and smelling like he'd just spent the entire weekend in a bar. "What can I do for you?" Bickslow said a polite smile.

"Yo, uh, have you seen my dog running about, man?" he asked, scratching his arm and his chest and he tried to look over Bickslow's shoulder. "She's a white lab. Some asshole stole her last night."

 _Last night? Mate, it was last week._ "No, I can't say I have. Sorry." Bickslow shrugged. "Who the fuck would steal a dog though? What a lowlife."

"Right? Well, if you do see her, give them both a kick for me and let me know, yeah?"

Bickslow nodded. "Of course. Hope you get her back soon, dude."

Satisfied his neighbour wasn't the culprit (Bickslow seemed like a top bloke to him), the backyard junkyard owner left and went to go visit another one of the residents of the street.


	46. Handsel - BixLu

_So, a few days ago I decided that I was going to try and get into the habit of writing every day. I don't write nearly as much as I should, and it's mostly out of laziness. I want to fix that. Anyway, instead of forcing myself to work on projects I maybe don't want to work on at the time, I thought I'd try tackling something smaller, and that is writing a drabble each day, using the Word of the Day from Merriam-Webster._

 _We'll see how long I can last._

 _Unfortunately, the words don't get updated until around 6pm or so for me, so updates will probably be late, or even a day behind (for me, at least). It shouldn't make too much of a difference. Also, since they'll all be short, I figured I'd just post them all in here since this is what this collection is for._

 _Alas, I hope you all enjoy, and happy new year! Here's to a better year with more writing and completed stories (S &S and APS _will _be making that list, I promise)._

* * *

 **Handsel**

 _"A gift made as a token of good wishes, especially at the beginning of a new year."_

Bickslow had never been a gift-giving person, at least outside of events such as birthdays and Christmas.

He'd always found it difficult to give gifts to the people he cared about, and it had always been something he'd felt guilty for, especially when his team, the family he cared about more than anything in the world, would give him the most thoughtful and exquisite gifts year after year. They always said they didn't mind when all they received back were small, comparably meaningless items, but that didn't change how Bickslow felt.

But it was a new year, and after almost losing the guild and so many years of his life on Tenrou, Bickslow knew it was time for a change. He wanted to be a better person, one his guild mates _liked_ having around. Even Laxus had come back and was making an effort, and if he could, then Bickslow could too.

He'd made himself a list; things that needed to be changed and people he needed to make amends with.

He started with his team and Laxus. They'd put up with so much from him over the years that he couldn't bear the thought of ever losing them. They were all he had left in that world after all. After that, he'd started on cleaning up his own life, going as far as moving into a new apartment, one with more light and a shower that wasn't constantly dripping or running cold. He even started taking care of the babies' totems again, sanding out the scratches and repainting the little details. And once all of that was done, Bickslow finally moved onto the guild.

Bickslow didn't know what he'd do without the guild. It had given him so much - a home when he'd needed it, friends and a family when he'd had none - and he'd almost lost it all.

There were a few people in particular Bickslow had wanted to speak to. But Bickslow wasn't really that great with words, at least not when he was trying to be serious, and Bickslow didn't really want to go into the guild one day and make a fool of himself - well, a bigger fool of himself than normal.

He saved Lucy for last, for whatever reason. Evergreen has teased him all week about it, saying that it was because he had a crush on _little Lucy_ (he didn't) and that it was adorable. Really, he'd just been trying to think of what to say and what to do. He'd gotten by with mumbled, shaky apologies for Makarov and everyone else he'd needed to speak to, but he'd felt Lucy had needed more than that. Perhaps it was because he'd already sort of apologised, before Tenrou. Or maybe it was because he still harboured far too much guilt. Bickslow wasn't sure.

But, he decided at some point he needed to _give_ her something. Something that was actually meaningful, or wasn't just some random trinket. And Bickslow had no hope in hell of buying something for a woman he knew hardly anything about, so he didn't bother. Instead, he made her something. And he'd never made anything for anyone in his entire life, not unless the bodies he'd given his souls counted.

Bickslow couldn't speak to her in the guild though. There were too many over-sensitive ears in there. He waited until she was on her way out for the night, bidding goodnight to his own group to catch up to her outside.

She hadn't gone far when he called out to her, "Hey! Uh, Cos—Lucy, wait up."

Lucy pulled her coat tighter around herself as she stopped and turned. "Oh. Evening, Bickslow," she said softly, offering a polite smile as he stopped just in front of her. "Heading out as well?"

"I, uh… Yeah." It wasn't all that late, but Bickslow supposed getting to bed at a reasonable time would probably be a good change. "I, um… I actually wanted to give you something," he said, reaching inside his cloak to pull the slim box from the deep pocket.

"Really? What for?"

He held it in his hands for a few more moments before reluctantly holding it out. It felt stupid, now that he was actually going through with it. Why he'd let Freed and the babies convince him it wasn't a bad idea was beyond him. At least he still had his visor to hide the fact he was having a hard time keeping eye contact. "Well, I just, um… I know that we talked a bit about it before… You know, before the trials and all that happened, and—"

"Bickslow sorry!" the babies chirped for him.

He grimaced. _Thanks, babies._ "Yeah. I'm, uh… I'm sorry," he finally admitted.

Lucy raised her eyebrows at him, slowly prying the lid from the box to peek inside. "What are you sorry for?" she asked.

"Just… Picking on you that one time…" Bickslow mumbled. "I know I apologised ages ago now, but I still just… I felt like it wasn't enough, you know? That was just… That was a mistake. All of it. And I guess I feel bad, too, since you were new to the guild back then, and I remember what it was like when I joined the guild and everyone was so awesome and welcoming, and… And that's what it should've been like for you as well. From me—well, from my team, I mean."

It felt like so long ago that Lucy had nearly forgotten about all of it. She hadn't known it was something that had still bothered Bickslow. She wondered if it was the same for the rest of his team. "I thought we'd all put that behind us, but thank you. I appreciate you saying that. And thank you for calling me Lucy for a change, too!" Bickslow grinned sheepishly at her and Lucy couldn't help roll her eyes before looking back down to her gift. "You really didn't need to give me anything though," she said.

"I wanted to. But, uh… I'm not really that great at this whole gift thing, so it's fine if you hate it—"

"Did you make this?" Lucy interrupted, carefully pulling the carved wooden block from the nest of pink tissue paper. It was just a bit larger than her hand, an open book with a quill sitting across the pages.

He nodded. "Um, yeah." It hadn't taken him long, a couple of nights at most. He hadn't the slightest idea what to actually make until he'd asked Freed if he knew anything about Lucy. "I heard from Freed that you like to write and were trying to write a book, and, well… I really hope that works out."

All the blood rushed to her cheeks as she looked away bashfully. Lucy was sure the whole guild knew her dream at that point. "I doubt it'll happen, to be honest…" she mumbled.

"It will. I believe in you."

She blushed even harder, glancing up to see Bickslow grinning down at her. She'd never had anyone make her anything before. She'd never really had anyone say they believed in her, either. Lucy was sure she'd be smiling all the way home. "W-Well, thank you. And this is beautiful. I love it," she said.

"Wait, you do?" Bickslow asked.

"Absolutely. I mean, I don't know where I'll put it just yet, but I'll find a special home for it."

Bickslow's own cheeks warmed up. Perhaps it hadn't been as stupid an idea as he'd thought.


	47. Campestral - CoLu

_If there's any pairings you'd like to see in the coming days/weeks/months, feel free to leave them in a review or send them to me in a PM!_

* * *

 **Campestral**

 _"Of or relating to open fields or country."_

Cobra had never in a million years expected to find himself living in the country, much less actually enjoying it. When Lucy had suggested it all those years ago, he'd laughed at her and asked her why the fuck she would want to live out in the middle of nowhere.

Her answer: why not?

He'd hated it at first. It had taken nearly a year to get used to living in the city, actually staying in one place and having somewhere to go home to each night. When they eventually moved and packed up their life there, Cobra had had to start all over again, and it had sucked.

As much as he had hated the city, he'd missed the convenience of being so close to it. Out there in their cosy little cottage in the campestral grounds, the closest town was nearly an hour away.

But after a while, the country had grown on him. The serenity was what won him over in the end. He fell asleep to crickets outside their porch each night, rather than the couple in the upstairs apartment arguing, and he woke up to silence, a welcome change to the children that had always played along the canals in the morning.

He liked it out there now. He liked sitting out on his porch with his coffee and watching Lucy in the garden. He liked going for walks around their land, even picking the odd bunch of wildflowers from the fields nearby since he knew how much Lucy liked her flowers. He liked being able to hear his own thoughts for a change, too. It had been a long time since Cobra had experienced anything close to peace. But out there, that's all there was, and it was his favourite thing.


	48. Rapporteur - BixLu

_I really had to force myself to write tonight. Migraines are horrible. Anyway, I saw this word today and I honestly had no idea what to write for it since I couldn't really figure out what it actually meant (there's multiple definitions, and while they're close enough, they just confuse me). Then, a friend suggested that my confusion about the word and what it actually does could be the basis of the story. So here we are._

* * *

 **Rapporteur**

 _"A person who gives reports (as at a meeting of a learned society)."_

Lucy could barely keep herself still as Bickslow finally made it home from work. He'd barely made it through the door and loosened his tie before she was excitedly asking, "So? How'd it go? Was it good? I told you it'd be good news!"

"Well, it wasn't _bad_ news," he sighed, squeezing past his girlfriend in the hallway to make his way down to their room. "But… It was kinda weird."

Lucy frowned. Weird was bad. Well, it wasn't horrible, but it certainly wasn't good either. "What happened then?"

"I, uh… I think I got a promotion?"

"You got a promotion and you think that's weird?" Lucy picked up one of the pillows on their bed to throw it at him. Sometimes she didn't understand him. "What the hell!"

Bickslow held up his hands to cover his face from the pillow attack. He loved their pillow fights, he really did. It was just that Lucy had a mean swing and sometimes it kinda hurt. "Hey! I said I _think_ I got a promotion, not that I _did_ ," he pointed out, finally catching the pillow and keeping it from Lucy's reach.

Lucy sighed, crossing her arms as she leant against the dresser. "Well, what's there to be confused about? Did you get a pay raise?"

"W-Well, yes. I think so. They said they'd send me a new contract to look over next week—"

"Then it's a promotion."

He rolled his eyes at her. "Fine, it's a promotion," he agreed hastily. "But I don't actually know what it is they're wanting me to do." He'd walked into his meeting with his bosses worried as all hell about his job, but ended up walking out just _confused_ as all hell. He'd spent the rest of the day searching online to try and figure out what it was his new possible job would entail, the internet had failed him and it hadn't made him feel any better about it all.

Lucy blinked, staring at her boyfriend for a few silent moments to try and figure out if he was actually serious or not. It seemed he was, judging by weird look he was giving her, as if to say, _'yes, I'm serious, now stop staring at me and say something. I'm waiting.'_ Really though, Lucy just didn't know what to say.

"How… How can you not know, though?" she asked slowly. "I mean, isn't that why they wanted you to come in for a meeting anyway? To tell you about the new opportunity?"

"Well, yeah, I guess." He shrugged. "But it was more of like, a pre-meeting thing."

"A pre-meeting," Lucy repeated. Bickslow shrugged again. She tried not to shake her head at him. "Alright, did they at least tell you anything about what you'd be doing?"

"Yes. They said something about being a _rapporteur_ for them, or something along those lines."

"A _rapporteur_? What the hell does that mean?"

"I have no idea!" The internet made it sound fancy and special, but Bickslow had been a public servant long enough to know that nothing about his job would ever be fancy and special. Still, there were so many different descriptions online about it that he just hadn't know what was right and what wasn't. "Honestly, I think it just means I go to more meetings. And then go to even more meetings to talk about what happened in the last meeting."

"Sounds like a glorified secretary," Lucy muttered.

"Honestly, it probably is." But he would be getting more money for it, so really, Bickslow wasn't sure if it was worth complaining.


	49. Abominable - GrayTear

_Newgeht on Tumblr asked for some GrayTear, so here we are. I've never written Ultear in my life, but I liked today's word for them._

 _Also, since I'll be updating this every day, I'm too lazy to update the pairings/description for each one. There's a good chance the majority of the pairings will still be what they currently are._

* * *

 **Abominable**

 _"Very bad or unpleasant."_

Ultear looked on in disgust at the monstrosity Gray was creating. She usually didn't have nightmares, but she was lambast certain she was living in one, based on what she was looking at.

"What… are you doing?" she finally asked. She wasn't the least bit surprised that Gray was only in his boxers despite the snow being past his ankles. It was what he was _doing_ in the snow that disturbed her.

Gray looked up from the mounds of misshapen snow in front of him, looking to Ultear before looking back down to his creation. "Making a snowman." He shrugged. Wasn't it obvious?

"That's a snowman?" Ultear raised an eyebrow at him as she began trudging through the snow. "In what universe is that considered a snowman?" For a mage who worked with _ice_ , Ultear would've thought the man would be able to make a decent snowman. Sure, they were different mediums, but still. The thing in front of her was definitely not a snowman. It was lopsided and barely holding together, and it had lumps in all the wrong places.

"Oi, there's nothing wrong with it!" Gray defended himself. Granted, he'd never actually built a snowman before, but he'd woken up that morning, seen all the snow from the previous night, and had the urge to build a snowman.

"Darling, that thing is an abomination."

"Then it's an _abominable_ snowman."

Ultear blinked, and Gray blinked back at her, his words quickly dawning on him. Never had Ultear heard something so ridiculous come out of his mouth. Now she really was convinced she was in a nightmare. "Did you just say it was an abominable snowman?"

Gray quickly turned away, his cheeks dusting with pink as he grabbed a handful of snow to begin shaping it. "No." Damn it. Perhaps he'd been spending too much time with Meredy and Natsu. They were wearing off on him after all.


	50. Eclectic - BixLu

_Remember that you can ask for certain pairings to appear (within reason), otherwise this whole year will be filled with BixLu LOL._

* * *

 **Eclectic**

 _"Composed of elements drawn from various sources."_

If it was one thing Bickslow knew for certain, it was that his girlfriend had eclectic taste. She was also a hoarder, but Bickslow was still trying to wrap his head around that since she hadn't been when they'd first started seeing each other.

Bickslow liked to think he was a kind, loving, and supportive partner. That was why when he went over to Lucy's house that evening to have dinner with her and see all the random crap she'd bought on her last mission, his first thought was really just that he loved her odd little quirks.

But, of course, they were still odd, and Bickslow had entered that relationship thinking _he_ would be the weird one of the pair. Now two years later he was being proven horribly, _horribly_ wrong.

Still, Bickslow only knew of one place that he could find a find a set of miniature piglet figurines next to some random wooden fertility totem, and that was Lucy's apartment. And, really, Bickslow had to admit that he'd enjoyed watching Lucy's apartment turn into a disaster over the years. It was refreshing in a way too. His own apartment was depressingly minimalistic (according to Lucy). Freed's was full of books and tomes was the fanciest apartment Bickslow had ever seen in his life. Evergreen's was just… green. And Laxus's apartment was, of course, the ultimate bachelor pad - or at least that was his goal.

But Lucy's apartment… Lucy's apartment was the home she'd made for herself. Every little thing she'd picked up over the years had meant something to her. She'd filled her home with things she loved, as weird and absurd as some of them were, and Bickslow could never hate that.


	51. Paradigm - Raijinshuu

_Figured I'd just post these every few days/week or so so I don't bombard people with these joke-pieces and make you all hate me. I'll say it now, these prompts are all going to be fairly loose, and pretty much just going to be the first thing that comes to mind when I start writing them._

* * *

 **Paradigm**

 _"Example, pattern; especially : an outstandingly clear or typical example or archetype"_

"But, why?"

Freed sighed as Bickslow pressed once more. Sometimes it was like talking to a brick wall. "I've told you why. It's just the way it is," he said, ignoring Evergreen's snickering as he collected the dinner plates from the table. "I don't make the laws, Bickslow."

Bickslow pouted, sifting back in his chair and folding his arms. "It's stupid."

"I agree, but..." Freed shrugged. "You know how some people are with mages. People are worried about their kids being hurt. It's the same as it always has been. Everyone is still scared, as they've been for decades. Nothing will change until the people start trusting us again."

"Most kids aren't even showing signs of magic at that age anyway," Evergreen chimed in.

"Yeah, well, mine is. And you try telling a four-year-old that they're not allowed to go to school to play with the other kids."

"You know, I'm with Bicks on this one," Laxus said, earning odd looks from his dinner companions. "What?"

"Nothing," Freed said, surprised and shaking his head slightly. "You just don't usually have an opinion on these matters, is all." Even Bickslow was a little confused, but he was no doubt feeling smug over Laxus agreeing with him.

Laxus shrugged. Sure, he didn't have his own kids, which was fine. But half the guild did, and his closest friends all did, and he was quite fond of his nieces and nephews. "I think it's dumb," he said. "Shouldn't stop kids from learning shit just 'cause they got magic in them. They'll all end up like this fool."

Bickslow was about to nod in agreement until he realised Laxus had gestured to him. "W-Wait, hang on!"


	52. Demotic - LaLu

_This one is set in that Keeper of Kitties story I wrote a while back._

* * *

 **Demotic**

 _"Denoting or relating to the kind of language used by ordinary people; colloquial."_

"I don't have an uncle named Bob, though," Lucy said thoughtfully.

Laxus groaned into his hands. The jester was snickering beside him, mindlessly playing with the cats that were swarming him, while Evergreen and Freed were getting on with their jobs.

Since taking the job as the kitten caretaker, and accepting the fact that he really fucking loved his job, Laxus had ended up forming a close bond with the princess. He wasn't too fond of the cats even though he'd been there for half a year, but he was fond of the princess, and he as fond of the moments where he got to spend time with all of his favourite people. It didn't happen very often, and it was usually late at night once the king had retired and once the staff all went to their quarters.

After spending more and more time with Laxus's friends, Lucy hadn't been able to help but notice they spoke in a slightly different way to her. There were phrases she didn't quite understand, inside jokes she couldn't begin to wrap her head around, and… Well, Lucy was inquisitive and liked to learn, so she asked what they meant, and most of the time, it ended with Laxus shaking his head at her and spending fifteen minutes trying to explain them to her.

That particular night had begun with Bickslow, the jester, talking about something that was sure to revolutionise the world as they knew it, and then saying something about an uncle named Bob, and of course, Lucy had decided to ask about it.

"I don't have any uncles, actually," she added.

"That's not—" Laxus sighed, rubbing his temples. "No one has an uncle named Bob, alright?"

"I'm sure someone has to. But what does that have to do with Bickslow's idea? Does Bickslow have an uncle named Bob?"

"Wouldn't have a clue!" the jester chimed in.

"Look, it doesn't actually have anything to do with uncles at all," Laxus said.

"Then what—"

"It's just a saying."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Well, I know that much," she mumbled. She wasn't an idiot. "You're not a very good teacher, you know."

Freed snorted, earning a glare from his blond-haired friend. He _knew_ he wasn't a good teacher. That wasn't his job. Although at that point, Laxus wasn't really sure _what_ his job was. It mostly seemed to be keeping the princess company when her father's dog wasn't watching her.

"It's like a, _ta-da_!" Bickslow offered, patting the calico cat that had climbed up onto his shoulders.

"Ta-da?"

"Yeah, like… Like everything is all done, you know? Like, you're set."

"Oh," Lucy said. "So it's like, the end?"

Bickslow shrugged. "I guess so."

"Really? _That's_ what makes you understand it?" Laxus muttered.

"Bickslow doesn't get _huffy_ with me when I don't understand," Lucy huffed. "You just _groan_ and _sigh_ at me."

"I do not!"

"You kind of do," Evergreen mumbled.

Laxus huffed, crossing his arms and looking away, ignoring the cat that was slowly sprawling across his lap. At least the cats didn't tease him.


	53. Malinger - CoLu

_I know these are short and aren't even close to being my best work, but reviews/comments would still be greatly appreciated! Otherwise this'll probably just end up being a personal project/Tumblr or AO3 'exclusive' kind of thing._

* * *

 **Malinger**

 _"To pretend or exaggerate incapacity or illness (as to avoid duty or work)."_

Putting her earrings in and checking her makeup in the mirror one last time, Lucy finally turned away and switched off the light in the bathroom, ducking back into her shared bedroom. "Ready to go?" she asked, expecting to see her partner all dressed up and waiting for her to finish getting ready. Instead, she found her maroon-haired boyfriend curled up in bed with the comforter up to his chin. "Seriously?" she dead-panned.

Erik coughed. "I'm sick," he said, feigning weakness. "I can't go. Sorry."

Lucy sighed, setting her clutch back down on the dresser and making her way over to the bed. She knew Erik, probably a little more than he thought, and Lucy knew that Erik didn't get sick. She also knew that he hated her friends, and that he absolutely detested going to her office Christmas parties. Lucy wasn't really that fond of them either, but she was expected to be there, and by extension, so was her boyfriend. He also hated that.

She sat down on the edge of the mattress, gingerly laying her palm across Erik's forehead. "Oh, wow. You're really burning up," she murmured.

"Huh?"

She didn't answer before quickly ducking back into the bathroom to get her small medicine kit, pulling out the thermometer within. "Open up." She shoved the thermometer under his tongue when he went to no doubt question what she was doing or if it was necessary, then stared down at her watch while holding it there. After a minute, she pulled it back out and read the gauge, frowning down at it while Erik made an attempt to sit up and peer over her shoulder at it. "Hmm, running a little warm, too," Lucy mumbled. He wasn't, of course.

Erik sank back down under the covers, trying to pull them up higher despite Lucy keeping them in place. He really wasn't sure what was happening. He'd felt a little off that day, but really, he'd mostly just been wanting to try and trick Lucy into letting him stay home that year. He certainly hadn't expected his body to go along with it.

"I better call Erza and tell her we can't make it. I'm sure she'll understand."

"What? No," Erik spluttered, his voice cracking embarrassingly. He couldn't have Lucy stay home. Oh no. She was bound to find out it was a lie then. "No, you should… You should go," he said, watching as Lucy fished her phone out of her clutch. "I'll be fine. I'll just, y'know, sleep and shit."

Lucy shook her head. "No, that wouldn't be fair. I'd rather stay home and keep you company, make sure you're okay."

Erik grimaced. Lucy was too nice for him. He wasn't sure why she put up with him, but even if he was just a little glad that he'd be able to skip the party for that year, he was feeling guiltier by the second. Lying wasn't his favourite thing in the world, at least not when it involved his girlfriend.

Putting her phone away, Lucy sighed and smiled back at Erik before returning to his side. She had him, she knew she did. "Well, I guess that's that!"

"Yeah…" Erik mumbled.

"Do you want me to make you something to eat? Or do you just want to rest."

"Uh, I think… maybe I'll just rest…" If he was asleep, he couldn't be caught out. Lucy nodded and then leant down, and Erik went to turn away at the last second when he realised she'd been trying to kiss him. "Oh, no, don't—I don't want you to get—"

"I'll give you fifteen minutes to get out of bed and get dressed," Lucy murmured against his cheek. Erik's eye went wide, and Lucy couldn't help the slight chuckle that came from her lips as she pressed a kiss to his cheek before sitting back up. "Nice try, hun. You can't get out of socialising that easily."


	54. Behest - GrayLu

**Behest**

 _"An urgent prompting."_

"You're not serious. No."

"Please?" Lucy begged, tugging on Gray's arm as she continued to sidle up to him on the couch. She couldn't get as close she liked anymore, not with the spawn in the way, but Lucy could still make things work. "Come on, you're not even doing anything!"

That was _not_ the point. The point was that it was a ridiculous time to be going out. He wasn't twenty-three anymore. He had a reasonable nightly routine of not doing anything past ten o'clock. "It's the middle of the night."

"I know, but I'm hungry," Lucy complained.

"We have food. Make something then."

"But I don't wanna. And I want onion rings. I can't make onion rings."

"Sure you can," Gray said, shrugging.

Lucy nudged him again, doing her best to get him to cave to her whim. "Please, Gray? _Pleeeaaase_?" she begged. "It'll take fifteen minutes!"

Gray made the mistake of looking down, instantly falling prey to her best puppy-dog eyes. He sighed loudly, almost groaning, and switched the TV off with the remote. "Fine," he grumbled. "But you're coming with me."

The last thing he needed right then was to get Lucy's order wrong, which he was still awfully prone to doing. It wasn't his fault she kept changing her mind about what she liked though.

"Okay!"

* * *

 _"Welcome to Eight-Island, what can I get for you tonight?"_

Gray squinted at the menu boards in the drive-thru, trying to decipher the words amidst the disgustingly bright pictures. "Uh, yeah, hi, could I please get…" He turned to Lucy beside him in the car, quietly urging her to tell him what she wanted.

"The chicken deluxe burger," she said. "Large."

"Can I please get one of those, uh… Chicken deluxe meals? Large," Gray said, turning back to the speaker box.

"No pickles," Lucy added. "Or tomato. But extra mayo. And bacon. And cheese."

Gray couldn't help but turn back and gawk at his girlfriend. "You eat weird shit," he muttered under his breath.

"Pregnant."

"You ate weird shit _before_ you were knocked up."

Lucy shrugged, listening as Gray amended the order and it popped up on the little screen under the speaker.

 _"Anything else?"_

"A large onion rings, too," Lucy said. "Two, actually."

Gray tried not to roll his eyes. "Um, yeah. Two large onion rings as well, please," he said.

 _"Uh-huh. Anything else?"_

"Tenders, too. For breakfast."

"And, a pack of your chicken tenders as well," Gray sighed.

 _"And was there anything else tonight?"_

Gray completely expected Lucy to list something else she wanted, but instead she just shrugged and sat back in her seat with a pleased smile. Because of course she was pleased - she'd just ordered twenty-five dollars worth of food for herself and wasn't paying for it. But Gray didn't really care.

Still, it was Eight-Island, and Eight-Island served the best soft serve ice cream in the entire town, and Gray could never resist ordering it. "Yeah, and just one of your jumbo sundaes. With extra sprinkles," he added finally.

 _"Not a problem. Was that all for tonight?"_

"Yes, thank you."

Hearing the order total, an amount that just made Gray cringe, he pulled around to the next window to see a familiar face operating the register. "They put you on overnights, Wendy?"

"Just until I finish this semester," she answered, waiting patiently as Gray fished his wallet from the console. "Wanted a midnight snack, I take it?"

Gray scoffed. "Yeah, sure. More like _someone_ didn't like the food at home so I had to come and get a mountain of onion rings, at her behest."

Wendy leant out her booth as Gray handed her the notes. "Didn't see you there. Hi, Lucy!"

"Hi, Wendy," Lucy said sweetly.

Grabbing the receipt and the change from Wendy, they bid goodnight to their young friend and Gray pulled forward to the next window to pick up the giant bag of food. Before Gray had made it back onto the main road, Lucy had already pulled one of the packs of onion rings out the bag and was happily digging in.


	55. Venal - Lucy

_Just a bit of lone Lucy for this one, since there's something about morally-questionably Lucy that I find interesting._

* * *

 **Venal**

 _"Originating in, characterised by, or associated with corrupt bribery."_

Lucy had always liked her job. She'd always loved the feeling she got from knowing she was helping her community and making it a better place. But, she also liked being able to pay her bills, and she couldn't really deny that she liked the idea of having someone looking out for her back, even if the people who did weren't the most upstanding citizens.

When she'd first joined the force, Lucy had hated the people who were swayed by money. It was part of why she'd joined the force as it was; she'd been sick and tired of seeing the ones who were supposed to uphold the laws they abide by just turn a blind eye to the dealings around them. Lucy had wanted to change that.

Lucy hadn't meant to become the people she hated, though. But she'd befriended the wrong person, let herself by used, even, and before long it had been too late to get out. She'd become the type of person she'd hated most, corrupt and venal and looking the other way for the sake of her own comfort.

Even years later, Lucy couldn't help but feel ill every time she paid a bill or even bought something she wouldn't have otherwise been able to afford. But doing the right thing wasn't an option anymore.


	56. Terraform - BixLu (Edolas)

_I have a lot of headcanons involving Edolas BixLu. I did plan on having a series dedicated to them a little while ago, but so far I haven't had the time to work on it. TLDR; Edolas Bickslow is a giant fucking nerd (like unbelievable so) and has pet rats. Maybe one day I'll actually get to work on them some more._

* * *

 **Terraform**

 _"T_ _o alter the environment of (a celestial body) in order to make capable of supporting terrestrial lifeforms."_

"Bicks, it's an alien planet. _By definition_ , we're not going to live on it."

Bickslow sighed, ignoring one of the many rats that were crawling over and around him, gently pushing his glasses back up when one of them decided the pull on the arm. " _We're_ not going to," he agreed. "But someone is going to, at least at some point."

" _How_?" Lucy groaned. It was disturbing how many times they'd had that conversation, or at least some variant of it. "Last I checked, _this_ was the only planet humans are able to survive on."

"Not necessarily. Find a suitable planet, terraform it a bit, and it can be a perfectly viable option for human inhabitance. And, I for one think it would be fucking awesome to live on an alien planet." Although, perhaps that was because he didn't particularly like Edolas all that much. Too many people there, most of which he couldn't actually talk to because they all had the mental maturity of a three year old.

Lucy could only blink, staring at him for a few moments in utter astonishment. "My god, you're the biggest dork in all of Edolas," she muttered. She'd already known that of course - she'd known that _long_ before they'd gotten together - but sometimes it blew her out of the water how much of a nerd he was. Perhaps it was because she could, in fact, picture Bickslow loving to live on an alien-inhabited planet.

"Yes," Bickslow agreed. "But, you did marry me, so that, _by definition_ , would mean that you like that."


	57. Boycott - ErzaJane

**Boycott**

 _"To engage in a concerted refusal to have dealings with (a person, a store, an organisation, etc.) usually to express disapproval or to force acceptance of certain conditions."_

"No! I will not stand for this!" Erza slammed her fist on the bar for effect. "How dare they think they can get away with this!"

Mira smiled tiredly at her distraught girlfriend, mindlessly polishing the glassware around her. "Well, it has been on the menu since he first opened," she offered, trying to calm the Requip mage down and help her see reason.

"That's the point!" Erza said. The other mages at the bar had all scurried away, other than Lucy who was too busy with her nose in a book. Mira supposed the guild was quiet compared her life at home now, so it was no surprise that she wasn't really paying much attention to Erza's dramatics. That, and she was probably used to it anyway. "It's a classic. His entire business was built on that cake!"

"I'm sure he'll add another one to the menu in time," Mira said. "A better one, even."

Erza shook her head, mouth agape at what her girlfriend had just suggested. "Preposterous! Nothing could ever top the classic strawberry sponge. In fact, I think we should all stop going there until the owner brings the original menu back." Erza looked to the blonde beside her. "Don't you agree, Lucy?"

Lucy looked up from her book, looking around dimly. "Hm? What?"

"Boycotting the bakehouse."

"Oh, yeah, sure…" Lucy murmured. She didn't know if it was worth mentioning that she'd never actually been to Erza's favourite bakery.

"Excellent. I shall alert everyone else in the guild of this boycott at once."

Mira could only sigh once more as Erza rose from her stool to do exactly what she said.


	58. Clement - Stirza

_I ended up a few days behind for a little while after having migraines for most of the week, so that was fun. Anyway, since Merriam Webster uses awful words, I'll just be using another site and choosing the word I prefer for the day._

 _Also, this one is kind of a request, since I got a request on tumblr for Sting x Erza with 'Bail' as the prompt, and I liked how it fit into today's word. Didn't know this was a pairing, to be honest._

* * *

 **Clement**

 _"Inclined to be merciful."_

"Eucliffe. You've made bail."

Sting looked up from where he'd situated himself in the corner of the overcrowded room, rushing over to the door as the officer unlocked it and slid it open. He thought he'd die in there, surrounded by sweaty criminals, forever regretting his actions.

Sting knew he should've listened to Rogue. He always got himself into trouble when he went out with Natsu. It was always a blast when they did go out, but still, Sting had never gotten himself arrested over it. There was a first time for everything though.

Following the officer back out to the waiting room, Sting kept trying to peek around the broad man in the narrow hallway. He hadn't really expected anyone to come get him, especially after Rogue had hung up on him after using his one phone call on him. But, Rogue was still his brother, and Sting didn't think Rogue would willingly let him rot in a cell just to teach him a lesson.

"There you are," the officer said, unlocking the last door that stood between himself and strict freedom. "Stay out of trouble for the time being, kid."

Sting nodded. He'd be on his best behaviour for sure.

He was grinning as he walked into the waiting room, entirely expecting to see his brother sitting and waiting for him with a scowl on his face. "Rogue! I knew you'd—"

He stopped when he saw the fiery redhead standing with her arms crossed, half heartedly wondering if he could turn around and go back to the communal cell. Erza was scowling, not surprisingly, but Sting couldn't quite tell if she wanted to pummel him or perhaps kiss him. _Maybe she's into bad boys?_ Sting thought. _No, no. Definitely wants to pummel me_ , he realised as he got closer.

"H-Hey, Erza," he laughed nervously. "Guess Rogue called you, huh?" He hadn't wanted Erza to know, especially since they'd _just_ started seeing each other. Sting guessed that was also part of Rogue trying to teach him a lesson.

Erza didn't say anything, instead turning on her heels to walk through the front door and out to her car. She, admittedly, had wanted to leave Sting there after his brother had called her in the middle of the night. She knew all too well what kind of shenanigans Natsu and Sting got up to, but usually she was stuck cleaning up after _Natsu_ and not Sting.

But, against her better judgement, Erza had decided to be clement towards her new boyfriend. Natsu was a lost cause, but Sting… Sting could still be taught. He could be shaped into a reasonable human being, one that knew better than to go along with all of Natsu's antics. Either way, Erza had no intentions of helping him out of that situation again, should it ever happen.

His girlfriend's silence was intimidating, and Sting picked up his pace to walk alongside her out on the pavement. "Thank you, though," he said, noticing the glance she gave in his direction as they kept walking. "For paying my bail. I'll… I'll make it up to you, I promise!" He'd offer to pay her back but he knew she'd get her money back after he showed up at court.

Erza knew he would. That much she'd trusted to begin with. She just hadn't quite figure out _how_ she could have Sting repay her. But Erza supposed she could figure that out as she went. "How about you start by buying me breakfast."


End file.
